Glastonbury Man Gets Hefty Sentence In 'Child Explotation' Case

GLASTONBURY, CT — A Glastonbury man has been ordered to spend more than a dozen years in prison in what a federal prosecutor described as a child explotation case involving thousands of images.

John H. Durham, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, said that James Ripberger, 63, of Glastonbury, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to 150 months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for "child exploitation offenses."

According to court documents and statements made in court, on October 12, 2017, law enforcement officers conducted a search of Ripberger’s Glastonbury residence and seized computers and electronic storage devices.

Analysis of the seized items revealed more than 2,200 images and videos of child pornography, more than 17,000 images of "child erotica," and "multiple images and videos of a minor victim who Ripberger surreptitiously recorded in various states of undress," according to case records.

Ripberger has been detained since Dec. 15, 2017, when he was arrested on a federal criminal complaint. On Jan. 16, 2019, he entered a guilty plea to one count of receipt of child pornography.