JACKSONVILLE, FL — A Tolland man convicted in a Connecticut child sex case about a dozen years ago is to now serve three decades in prison as part of a federal case out of Florida.In Jacksonville, Chief United States District Judge Marcia Morales Howard has sentenced Andrew Thomas Bull, 37, of Tolland, who also goes by the name Andrew Thomas Picard, to 30 years in federal prison for attempting to entice an 11-year-old "child" to engage in "sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing photos of her own se...
JACKSONVILLE, FL — A Tolland man convicted in a Connecticut child sex case about a dozen years ago is to now serve three decades in prison as part of a federal case out of Florida.
In Jacksonville, Chief United States District Judge Marcia Morales Howard has sentenced Andrew Thomas Bull, 37, of Tolland, who also goes by the name Andrew Thomas Picard, to 30 years in federal prison for attempting to entice an 11-year-old "child" to engage in "sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing photos of her own sexual abuse."
The court also ordered Bull to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and "forfeit the electronic device that he used to commit the offense."
Bull was convicted of importation and possession of child pornography in Connecticut in 2013, and is on the Connecticut Sex Offender Registry as a result. See his entry here. Bull was on court-ordered probation when he was arrested on May 25, 2023. Bull was detained and transported to Jacksonville and pleaded guilty on Feb. 18 of this year.
According to court documents, on Nov. 15, 2022, an FBI agent in the Jacksonville area was conducting an online undercover operation to identify adults "seeking to meet and engage in sexual activity with children." The undercover agent posted a text message in a public chat room on a social media application offering access to an 11-year-old, according to case records. Later that same day, user “brdr1066,” subsequently identified as Bull, contacted the undercover agent directly using the private online text messaging feature of the app, according to case records.
Bull then asked the undercover agent to confirm the age and sexual experience of the fictitious child and sent explicit photos of himself to be shown to the "child," according to case records.
Between November 2022 and May 2023, during text conversations on the app, Bull confirmed his desire to have sex with the fictitious child and he sent the undercover agent photos depicting young children being "sexually abused," according to case records. He then solicited the undercover agent to take and send to Bull pornographic photos of the "child" and "directed the UC as to how the UC could accomplish this," according to case records.
Case records also show that, on May 9, 2023, Bull asked the undercover agent, "Do I get live pics tonight? .... before she goes to bed hopefully ... you ask to see her [genitalia] yet?"
On May 25, 2023, FBI agents arrested Bull and executed a federal search warrant at his residence. A search of Bull’s cellphone revealed that it contained at least 15 videos and 40 photos "depicting children being sexually abused, including an infant," according to case records.
"Protecting kids from predators is among the most important work that we do at the FBI," Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division Jason Carley said. "Let this case be a warning. The FBI is relentless in our efforts to identify and stop child predators from abusing our kids."