Man, 19, ‘Mooned’ Zoom Meeting In Naugatuck: Police

NAUGATUCK, CT — A 19-year-old Michigan resident exposed his buttocks while “Zoom Bombing” an online meeting in Naugatuck earlier this year, according to police.

The incident happened April 7 when two people disrupted a public meeting hosted by the Borough of Naugatuck Board of Mayor and Burgesses. The meeting was being held through the Zoom videoconferencing service because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Two unidentified people entered the meeting at separate times and one user exposed his buttocks, while the other used voice-only and made comments that were “possibly racial in nature,” according to police.

The users were ejected from the meeting by administrators, but not before causing a disruption, police said.

In the ensuing months, Naugatuck detectives obtained a series of search-and-seizure warrants from Zoom and from various Internet Service Providers to try and identify the individuals, according to police. Detectives determined the source of one of the Zoom users came from a home in Michigan.

A Naugatuck detective called the phone number of the suspect’s address in Michigan on Sept. 30.

Police said the woman who answered was “cooperative and when shown photos from the meeting she confirmed that it was in fact her living room.”

The woman also said she believed her 19-year-old son was the person in the photos. Detectives then arranged a conference call with both of them.

The 19-year-old admitted he was the person who interrupted the meeting by exposing himself and said he was sorry and that it was something “stupid” he did, according to police.

He told detectives that he "learned about this prank on YouTube and decided to do it,” police said. He also "implicated an associate as the second user who interrupted the meeting, but detectives were not able to substantiate the second user’s identity," according to police.

The 19-year-old extended his "apologies for the entire incident to detectives,” police said.

The investigation by Det. Andre Moutela concluded that the incident was committed by the 19-year-old, according to police.

“What’s more, there was no specific reason that the Borough of Naugatuck was targeted aside from [the 19-year-old's] own desire to interrupt a public meeting that he had learned about on the internet,” police said. “Detectives are confident there is no ties or other motives that resulted in [the 19-year-old] committing this act."

Police also said since the suspect lives in Michigan and the "applicable criminal charge being a misdemeanor lacking extradition, it was determined that no criminal charges would be pursued. This investigation has been closed.”