Windsor Man Sentenced For Enticing A Minor

WINDSOR, CT - A former Windsor man was sentenced Thursday for enticing a 13-year-old to engage in sexual activity, according to a statement from John Durham, US Attorney for the District of Connecticut. Andrew Cunningham, 39, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release for enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in March 2017, Cunningham began communicating with a 13-year-old female on Omegle, a website and mobile application designed to pair strangers for text and video chats.

Cunningham first told the minor victim that he was 17, and later stated he was 25. Cunningham and the victim then communicated via text messaging and phone calls for approximately one week, according to Durham's statement. During that time, Cunningham enticed the minor victim to send him sexually explicit images of herself, and attempted to lure her to travel to Connecticut.

Cunningham was a registered sex offender and was on probation at the time of the offense. In 2014, Cunningham traveled to Illinois and engaged in sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl. He had told the girl he was 25 years old when, in fact, he was 34 at the time, according to Durham's statement.

In 2015, he was convicted in Illinois of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor and was sentenced to five years in prison and two years of mandatory supervised release. He was released from prison in December 2016.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Connecticut State Police, with the assistance of Connecticut State Parole. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy V. Gifford.

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.