HARTFORD, Conn. — A 58-year-old man who worked as a victim advocate in the Connecticut state court system has pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge.
Robert Eccleston, of Canton, pleaded via video conference Monday to one count of distributing child pornography. He faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 19. Eccleston was identified by the FBI in 2020 as someone sharing child porn to groups on the social media site “Kik.”
Prosecutors said he served as an administrator of one of those groups and required prospective members to send him videos of child sexual abuse for group access.
In August and September 2020, Eccleston, using the Kik usernames “hartfordctguy” and “Mowgli100,” distributed numerous pornographic images and videos of children in these Kik groups, including images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of toddlers and prepubescent children, according to officials.
Eccleston was arrested on December 11, 2020. At the time of the offense, he was employed as a Victim Services Advocate for the Hartford Superior Court in Hartford. He has been detained since his arrest.
Doug Stewart is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
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