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New Haven County resident Joseph Amadeo, age 37, of North Branford, has been charged by a federal grand jury with receipt of child pornography following an investigation into an online community that shared porn on the dark web.
US Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery said that Amadeo was originally arrested on the federal criminal complaint on June 3, 2021. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
It is alleged that in 2020, Homeland Security Investigations began to look into Amadeo for his involvement in an online community of individuals who sent and received child pornography images and videos on the dark web.
On March 24, 2021, Avery said that investigators conducted a court-authorized search of Amadeo’s residence and seized his computer and other electronic devices.
The indictment says that analysis of the devices revealed thousands of images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, many as young as infants.
Prosecutors noted that Amadeo is a registered sex offender on the Connecticut Sex Offender Registry after being convicted in 2013 on state charges involving child pornography.
His 2013 conviction for risk of injury involved him collecting and sharing hundreds of images and videos of child pornography, according to the Sex Offender Registry.
If convicted, Amadeo faces a minimum term of five years and a maximum term of 20 years in prison on the receipt of child pornography charge. He is currently released on a $100,000 bond pending his trial.
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