East Hampton Man Pleads Guilty to Using Computer to Entice Minors to Engage in Sexual Activity
WASHINGTON — The FBI announced that Keith Haessly, 46, of East Hampton, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to using a computer to persuade minors to engage in unlawful sexual activity.
According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately August 2013 and June 2015, Haessly, using video chat programs such as Skype and Omegle, posed as a young female and used previously-recorded videos of females to entice numerous boys to engage in sexual activity over webcams. Haessly then made recordings of the boys engaged in sexual activity, and distributed some of the images he recorded to an individual in Virginia.
To date, investigators have identified 48 individual victims. The effort to identify additional victims is ongoing.
Haessly has been detained since his arrest on June 3, 2015. At the time of his arrest, he was a member of the Connecticut Air National Guard.
Haessly pleaded guilty to one count of use of an interstate facility to persuade a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years, a maximum term of imprisonment of life and a fine of up to $250,000. A sentencing date is not yet scheduled.
