The US Attorney for the District of Connecticut, David X. Sullivan, on Tuesday announced that Zachary Williams, 38, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced in Hartford to 240 months of imprisonment for offenses related to his sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl he met on Snapchat.<\/p>\n
According to court documents and statements made in court, in February 2021, Mr. Williams began communicating with the 11-year old girl on Snapchat.<\/p>\n
Williams groomed the girl and coerced her to send her sexually explicit images of herself.\u00a0 Once in possession of the images, Williams threatened to post them online for her family, friends, and others to see, and used these tactics to pressure the girl to meet him in person for a sexual encounter.<\/p>\n
Then, on two occasions in February 2021, Williams traveled to Connecticut, sexually abused the girl in her home while her family was asleep, and recorded the sexual acts on his iPhone.\u00a0 After these encounters, Williams used the sexual videos and images he recorded to threaten the girl further so she would not expose his conduct.<\/p>\n
Williams has been detained since March 13, 2021, after he was charged in the District of New Jersey with similar child exploitation offenses.\u00a0 He was convicted after trial and sentenced on March 18, 2025, to life in prison.<\/a><\/p>\n On August 8, 2025, Williams pleaded guilty in the District of Connecticut to one count of production of child pornography and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual conduct.<\/p>\n Williams is also charged with child exploitation offenses in the Eastern District of New York where he is currently awaiting trial.<\/p>\n This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Galloway Township (N.J.) Police Department.\u00a0 The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nancy V. Gifford, Daniel E. Cummings, and Alexis L. Beyerlein.<\/p>\n U.S. Attorney Sullivan thanked the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the District of New Jersey for its cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of this case.<\/p>\n This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n