Stamford Man Pleads Guilty to Child Exploitation Offense

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that RICK MARRO, 45, of Stamford, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to a child exploitation offense.

According to court documents and statements made in court, law enforcement began investigating Marro in August 2023 after a 16-year-old male victim reported that he had been sexually exploited by Marro. The victim reported that he met Marro on a dating application, and they then began communicating on Snapchat in April 2023. The victim indicated that they met in person at Marro's house on multiple occasions and two of the encounters were sexual in nature. The victim reported that Marro gave him "poppers," that Marro was "into" asphyxiation, and, on one occasion, Marro strangled him and he passed out "for a minute or two." A law enforcement review of the victim's Snapchat account showed that Marro sent him videos that Marro had recorded of them engaged in sexual activity. He also sent the victim a video depicting Marro choking him.

Law enforcement subsequently seized and searched Marro's cell phone. During the examination of Marro's phone, investigators located the same videos that he recorded and sent the victim showing them engaged in sexual activity. They also located text messages that Marro had sent to another individual in which Marro stated that he "choked [the victim] all the way to unconscious today by accident."

Marro, who was arrested on a criminal complaint on January 18, 2024, pleaded guilty to receipt and distribution of child pornography, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. Judge Dooley scheduled sentencing for January 6.

Marro has been detained since his arrest.

This matter has been investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Stamford Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.comLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..