Windsor Locks Man Charged With Child Exploitation Crimes

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — A Windsor Locks man is facing federal charges in connection with multiple child exploitation offenses over a 4-month period in late 2021 and early 2022.

Justin McKenney, 27, was arrested on St. Patrick's Day in Boston, where he was employed. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish in Hartford, who ordered McKenney detained, according to Leonard C. Boyle, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Matthew B. Millhollin, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, Boston.

The complaint charges McKenney with enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life; receipt of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years; possession of child pornography, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years; and transfer of obscene material to a minor, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.

Court documents indicate Glastonbury police began investigating the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl last October by an individual she met on Snapchat. The investigation revealed McKenney, posing as a high school student and using the Snapchat username “keepingupg,” began communicating with the girl in September 2021, and he subsequently enticed her to engage in sexual activity, Boyle said.

Between October 2021 and February 2022, McKenney is believed to have used Snapchat to engage in sexually explicit communications with at least six other minor females in other states. He sent sexually explicit messages, images and videos of himself to minor victims, and he received sexually explicit images and videos from minor victims, Boyle said.