United States Navy Mechanic Randall Tilton, 31, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to child pornography production offenses related to his sexual abuse of seven young girls in three states over the course of several years.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on November 1, 2019, Tilton was arrested on state sexual assault charges after he admitted in an interview with the Town of Groton Police that he had sexually assaulted several minor victims and that he had recorded some of the sexual assaults.
Subsequent examination of a laptop, tablet, cellphone, and two flash drives seized from Tilton revealed that beginning in approximately 2014, Tilton sexually assaulted seven girls who were between the ages of four months and eight years old. Tilton photographed, and video recorded many of these sexual assaults. Some of the images depict a minor victim bound and restrained while Tilton sexually assaulted her. Tilton distributed some of the images and videos of these sexual assaults on the dark web through the Tor network.
Tilton’s electronic devices also included thousands of images and videos of the sexual abuse of other minors, including sadomasochistic images of minors in bondage, sexual assaults on infants, and sexual acts on the corpse of a minor.
When he was arrested, Tilton was employed as a forward auxiliary mechanic in the U.S. Navy. The investigation revealed that Tilton sexually assaulted children in Connecticut, New Hampshire and California.
Tilton pleaded guilty to seven counts of production of child pornography, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years on each count.
At sentencing, which is scheduled for March 1, 2021, the government will argue for a sentence of 210 years of imprisonment.
Tilton has been detained since his arrest.
This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Town of Groton Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy V. Gifford.
U.S. Attorney Durham thanked the New London State’s Attorney’s Office for its cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of this case.
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.