Paul-Alexander Lejas

A Yale Police Department officer was arrested on Friday and charged with possession of child sexual abuse material — over 50 videos and images of explicit content involving young children.

Otilio Green, who has worked for the YPD for at least four years, was arrested by the Connecticut State Police after a joint state-federal investigation linked images and videos of child sexual abuse material to his phone number. After bonding out of State Police custody on Friday, Green was immediately detained by federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations task force.

On Monday, the Justice Department announced that Green will be federally prosecuted for possession and receipt of child pornography, on top of a state-level charge for possession of child sexual abuse material in the first degree.  

Green, whose profile is still listed on Yale’s staff directory as of Monday night, has been placed on paid administrative leave because of the arrest, Yale’s Office of Public Affairs and Communications confirmed to the News on Monday.

“Officer Green is prohibited from entering Yale police headquarters or any other university buildings or property,” the University spokesperson wrote.

Affidavits written by State Police detective Jonathan Carreiro and federal Homeland Security Investigations special agent Molly Reale each describe the investigation that prompted Green’s charges. 

Homeland Security Investigations — or HSI — and state police began investigating Green after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC, a nonprofit that runs a “CyberTipline” which collects and investigates reports of suspected online child sexual abuse material, and then alerts relevant law enforcement agencies. 

On March 27, according to Carreiro’s affidavit, the State Police began investigating eight CyberTipline reports submitted by Synchronoss Technologies, a cloud backup platform. Synchronoss reported, which they are required to do per federal statute, that five images and 43 videos of suspected child sexual abuse material had been uploaded to an account associated with Green’s Verizon Wireless number. 

Carreiro reviewed the suspected files and determined that all of the images and 42 of the 43 videos fit the definition of child sexual abuse material. Since October 2024, Connecticut’s penal code has used the phrase “child sexual abuse material” instead of  “child pornography.”

Carreiro and Reale described the content of some of the files in their affidavits. The descriptions included videos of adults performing various sexual acts on undressed or half-dressed children between the ages of one and 14 years old.

“Based on my training and experience and that of my law enforcement colleagues, I know that some of the 43 videos in the CyberTipline reports are from ‘known series’ of child pornography,” Reale wrote. “That is, these videos depict a minor who has previously been identified by NCMEC.”

According to Reale’s affidavit, the CyberTipline reports provided IP addresses connected to Green’s Verizon account at the times he uploaded the material. Several of the IP addresses are registered to Green’s residence in Hamden. Two are associated with an IP address belonging to Yale University, Reale wrote.

On March 28, Carreiro filed a search and seizure warrant with the Connecticut Superior Court in Meriden, asking permission to search Green’s Verizon account. Carreiro got access to the account on April 1, and located the files flagged in the CyberTipline reports, 57 additional files of suspected child sexual abuse material and other media that connected the account to Green — including selfies, bills, screenshots of work schedules and a photograph of Green’s Yale work identification, according to Reale’s affidavit.

The explicit material was uploaded between January and March this year.

On Friday, Green was arrested on the job, according to a State Police news release, and taken to New Haven’s federal courthouse to be processed. He was released on a $100,000 “non-surety” bond — an agreement in which the arrested individual promises to appear in court on an assigned date, or else pay the bond in full.

Immediately following his release, Green was taken into custody by federal agents from the HSI task force, according to a State Police report. The task force was investigating Green for “related” federal child sexual abuse material possession charges. 

A federal prosecutor filed a motion on Friday to keep Green in custody while he awaits trial. A detention hearing to consider the pretrial detention is scheduled for Tuesday.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would prosecute Green for charges of possessing and receiving child pornography.

Green’s federal charges are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison. His state-level first-degree charge of possessing child sexual abuse material — a Class B felony — can be punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, according to Connecticut’s penal code. 

Green is scheduled to be arraigned for the state-level charge on April 16 in Meriden, Conn. He is slated to appear before a federal judge in Bridgeport on April 17.