Clinton Man, 31, Pleads Guilty To Federal Child Porn Charge

HARTFORD, CT — A 31-year-old Clinton man has pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charges, the US Attorney announced.

Mark Felner appeared before in U.S. District Court on one count of receiving child pornography "stemming from his interactions with an underage victim in 2015 and 2016," prosecutors said.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on a number of occasions in 2015 when he was 26, Felner traveled from Connecticut to North Carolina to engage in illegal sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl. In 2015 and 2016, when Felner and the minor victim were not physically together, the victim, at Felner’s instruction, sent pornographic images of herself through social media messaging services. He was arrested on a federal criminal complaint in October 2019. A memory card seized from him at the time of his arrest revealed pornographic images that he had received from the minor victim.

Scheduled to be sentenced in October, Felner faces a mandatory minimum prison term of five years and maximum term of 20 years, and he'll be required to register as a sex offender.

Felner is out on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New London and East Lyme police departments.

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.com.