Ridgefield Man Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Child Exploitation Offense

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that NICHOLAS SKIRKANICH, 45, of Ridgefield, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vernon D. Oliver in Hartford to 36 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for a child exploitation offense. Judge Oliver also ordered Skirkanich to pay a fine and assessments totaling $25,000, and restitution of $4,000.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in October 2022, an online service provider submitted a CyberTip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ("NCMEC") indicating that a TikTok video containing child sex abuse imagery was sent from Skirkanich's email account to another email account. Subsequent investigation revealed that Skirkanich had emailed the TikTok video to another email account he controlled, that he had also uploaded to TikTok another video of child sex imagery, and that he possessed numerous other child sex abuse images on his phone.

Skirkanich was arrested on December 15, 2022. On February 21, 2023, he pleaded guilty to accessing with intent to view and possessing child pornography.

Skirkanich, who is released on a $150,000 bond, is required to report to prison on October 19.

This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with the assistance of the Ridgefield Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shan Patel, with the assistance of the Danbury State's Attorney's Office.

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.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.