A man who worked as a victim services advocate in the Connecticut court system has been sentenced to prison for child pornography.
Robert Eccleston was sentenced in federal court in Hartford on Monday to nine years in prison plus 10 years’ supervised release. He had pleaded guilty in January to one count of distribution of child porn.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, FBI agents monitoring public groups on the social media application Kik traced two usernames to Eccleston and found numerous pornographic images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of toddlers and prepubescent children.
The 58-year-old Canton resident also served as an administrator of two online groups and required prospective members to send him videos of child sexual abuse, according to the prosecutor's office.
At the time of his arrest, Eccleston was working as victim services advocate for the Hartford Superior Court. He has been detained since his arrest in December 2020.
A message seeking comment was left Tuesday with an attorney representing Eccleston.
For more than four decades, Connecticut has provided services to ensure that victims’ voices are heard in state courtrooms and are compensated for their losses.
