Former Farmington private school teacher sentenced to 5 years in federal prison for child pornography

HARTFORD, Conn. — A former private school teacher was sentenced Wednesday to 60 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release for attempted receipt of child pornography following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Joseph Rajkumar, 44, formerly of Farmington, pleaded guilty Nov. 18, 2013 in Hartford federal court to one count of attempted receipt of child pornography. The charge stems from Rajkumar‘s sexual relationship with a student while he was a teacher at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, in about April 2011, Rajkumar, a then science teacher and advisor to the Science Olympiad team at Miss Porter’s School, befriended a minor female victim who was a student at the school. 

Before the victim left the school for summer break in June 2011, Rajkumar pressured her to create an anonymous email account that did not contain her name, which she eventually did. Rajkumar had already created an anonymous email account for his own use, in violation of the school’s policy that teachers and students should communicate via email only through a school-sponsored website.  Through the email accounts, Rajkumar and the victim frequently engaged in video chats and, during the chats, Rajkumar made multiple attempts to get the victim to remove her shirt.  The victim initially resisted, but eventually succumbed to Rajkumar advances and exposed her chest to him through the video chat.

Beginning in approximately November 2011, Rajkumar and the victim engaged in a sexual relationship that lasted several months.  The investigation revealed evidence of numerous video chats that took place through at least April 2012.  In the chats, Rajkumar frequently made lascivious comments to the victim and pressured her to expose herself.

The investigation further revealed that Rajkumar had also begun to harass other young girls at the school in person and through text messages.  He told one female student via text message that she looked “hot” in the pants she was wearing at a school event and told another that she should create an anonymous email account so that they could do “naughty things” that were “secret.”  In total, Rajkumar corresponded with at least six victims, including the one victim with whom he eventually had sexual intercourse.  Rajkumar asked at least one of the other victims to start a physical relationship with him.

Rajkumar previously pleaded guilty in state court to sexual assault in the second degree and, in January 2014, was sentenced to 10 years of incarceration, execution suspended after 18 months, and 10 years of probation. 

This investigation was conducted with the Farmington Police Department and under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,300 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI's Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.