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Bristol resident Robert Marlin Sellers, age 60, was arrested this week and charged in a federal criminal complaint with child exploitation offenses related to his attempt to engage in commercial sex with a minor, U.S. Attorney John Durham announced.
Investigators launched an investigation into Sellers late in 2020 after receiving a tip that Sellers was sharing videos of child sex abuse on a website that is focused on incest. Durham said that in November last year, an undercover FBI employee began interacting with Sellers on the social media application Kik as part of the investigation.
During those conversations with Sellers, it is alleged that he made statements that he had sexually abused children, and that he had trafficked a child to engage in commercial sex acts. He also said that he had recently traveled out of state to have sex with another 12-year-old girl
The undercover agent told Sellers that he had a 12-year-old daughter during one of their conversations. After Sellers introduced the idea that the child could be trafficked for sex, he offered suggestions to the undercover investigator about how it could be accomplished, while arranging to have sex with her in exchange for $200.
It is further alleged that last month, Sellers sent the undercover investigator videos of child sex abuse that Sellers maintained on a file sharing website.
Sellers was arrested on Sunday, Feb. 4 at a hotel in Southington shortly after providing the undercover agent $200 to engage in sexual acts with the child.
Specifically, Sellers was charged with one count of attempted commercial sex trafficking of a minor and one count of distribution of child pornography. Sellers, who has been detained since his arrest on Feb. 4, faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 years in prison and a maximum term of life in prison if convicted on the top charge.
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