Stratford

Stratford Man Sentenced for Sexually Exploiting Children: Officials

NBC 5 News

A Stratford man was sentenced on Friday for offenses related to the sexual exploitation of multiple children, according to the US Department of Justice.

Edward Galpin, 40, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.

According to court documents, Galpin was an administrator of a private Kik messaging app chat group that provided a forum for members to discuss their sexual interest in young children and exchange images and videos of child sexual abuse. 

As a group administrator, Galpin distributed child pornography, requested it from other group members and removed anyone from the group who did not share child pornography, court documents said.

Officials said that Galpin possessed and shared a significant amount of child pornography, including images and videos of prepubescent minors, and also had content displaying the sexual abuse of toddlers.

The investigation also revealed that Galpin used Instagram several times to identify young girls to solicit or produce child pornography. 

According to officials, Galpin arranged to meet with a 17-year-old girl, picked her up at her house and engaged in sexually explicit conduct with her. Galpin recorded the sexual encounter and then shared images and videos on Kik.

Galpin also found a 15-year-old girl on Instagram and persuaded her to send him sexually explicit images of herself. Officials said the teen sent them using Instagram's self-destruct feature, which automatically deletes a photo after a short time.

However, officials said Galpin recorded a video of their conversation so he could keep the images he had received.

Galpin also contacted an eighth-grade girl over Instagram, received a video and several images, and engaged in sexually explicit conduct, authorities said.

According to officials, Galpin also used spy cameras to record videos of women while they were undressing and distributed the content over Kik.

In June 2020, Galpin contacted a Kik account operated by an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a 14-year-old girl. Galpin asked the “girl” when her “mom” would be away from home and arranged to meet her at a coffee shop in Connecticut.

On June 25, 2020, after Galpin arrived at the scheduled time and place, law enforcement approached him, seized his iPhone, and was later arrested. Officials said they discovered nearly 2,000 child sexual abuse videos and images, including some that Galpin had produced.

On March 10, 2021, Galpin pleaded guilty to two counts of production of child pornography and two counts of distribution of child pornography. He has been detained since his arrest.

Contact Us