Glastonbury Scientist Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison in Child Porn Case

A Glastonbury scientist was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday for persuading children to participate in sexual acts while he watched and recorded it on his home computer.

William P. Patrick, 68, pleaded guilty in June in U.S. District Court to charges of using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity. Federal prosecutors presented computer records in court showing that Patrick explained over his computer how he could hold information over a “7-year-old’s head and threaten to tell if she doesn’t do what I want,” according to court records.

Patrick, a Glastonbury native, also talked about paying small amounts of money to girls who lived in the Phillippines, after men had assaulted them at his instruction, the records said.

“The horror of choreographing and coercing the sexual assault of a seven year old child cannot be overstated,” assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Miller wrote in a memor to senior U.S. District Judge Warran Eginton prior to Monday’s sentencing.

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Patrick, who holds advanced degrees in aeronautics and astronautics, worked for 38 years at the United Technologies Research Center. He retired in 2006.

In 2008, an FBI agent examining a computer later traced to Patrick discovered images depicting the sexual abuse of young girls. Agents later searched Patrick’s Glastonbury home, and found computer equipment that contained child pornography.

Patrick was arrested and pleaded guilty in June.

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