
Kruzynski
A 51-year-old Shelton lawyer was sentenced to 13 years in prison Monday (July 30) on a federal child exploitation charge.
Peter Kruzynski had pleaded guilty in January to one count of enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity.
According to a prepared statement from U.S. Attorney John H. Durham, Kruzynski pleaded guilty to using his cell phone “to entice a male victim, who was under the age of 16, to engage in sexual activity.”
“Specifically, Kruzynski sent text messages to the victim asking him to come to Kruzynski’s home, where Kruzynski then engaged in sexual activity with the victim,” Durham said. “In addition, on one occasion in December 2014, when the victim was 17 years old, Kruzynski used his phone to take photographs of the victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”
Kruzynski then threatened to send the photos to others if the vicim refused to see him again, and to use his status as a lawyer “to jeopardize the victim’s future career hopes if the victim told others about the abuse,” Durham said.
Federal prosecutors arrested Kruzynski Sept. 14, 2016, two weeks after he was charged by Shelton police with sexual assault.
He has been behind bars since October 2016, when Durham said Kruzynski’s bond was revoked for failing to comply with conditions of his release.
On Monday U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer sentenced Kruzynski to 156 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, at U.S. District Court in New Haven.
As part of a civil settlement, Kruzynski has agreed to pay the victim $215,000, Durham said.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Shelton Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel.
Durham said the prosecution was 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.
In addition to the federal case, Kruzynski also faces charges in state court of first‑, second‑, and fourth-degree sexual assault, witness coercion, and two counts of illegal sexual contact with a minor.