Feds: City man charged with recording sex with 16-year-old

STAMFORD — A city man has been charged with making pornography from his sexually encounters with a 16-yearold boy, officials say.

In a release, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut’s office said Rick Marro, 42, was arrested on Thursday on a federal complaint charging him with child exploitation offenses. He appeared before a federal magistrate in Bridgeport and was ordered detained.

The U.S. attorney’s office said law enforcement started investigating Marro in August of last year after a 16-year-old male victim reported that he had been sexually exploited by Marro. It said the victim told police he had met Marro on a dating application and began talking to him via Snapchat in April.

The U.S. attorney’s office said the victim told them they met in person at Marro’s house on multiple occasions, two of which involved sexual encounters. It said the victim reported that Marro gave him “poppers” and that Marro was “into” asphyxiation.

On one occasion, the U.S. attorney’s office said, Marro strangled him and he passed out “for a minute or two.” It said investigators reviewed the victim’s Snapchat account and found that Marro sent him videos that Marro had recorded of them engaged in sexual activity. It said he also sent the victim a video depicting Marro choking him.

The U.S. attorney’s office said authorities seized and searched Marro’s phone and found the same videos that were in the victim’s Snapchat. It said they also found text messages that Marro had sent to another individual in which Marro stated that he “choked [the victim] all the way to unconscious today by accident.”

The U.S. attorney’s office said Marro has been charged with production of child pornography, receipt and distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography, which carry a combined maximum prison term of 70 years.