Vermilion cops help federal prosecutors in Connecticut convict man on child exploitation charges

The testimony of two Vermilion police officers helped convict a Connecticut man of exploiting a teenage girl for sex. A federal jury on Wednesday found Onai Kedar Wilbert Wright, 27, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, guilty of child exploitation offenses, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut said in a news release. Wright was found guilty of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in prostitution or criminal sexual activity, production of child pornography, receipt of child pornography and transportation of child pornography — also now called child sexual abuse material. Wright, who has been in custody since March 2025, faces a minimum of 15 years or up to life in prison at sentencing. That date hasn't been set. Vermilion Police Chief Scott Holmes and Detective Nick Kowal traveled to Hartford last week to testify at the first day of Wright's trial, Vermilion police said. Charges of second-degree sexual assault, promoting a minor in an obscene performance and risk of injury to a minor are pending in Connecticut, the New Haven Register newspaper reported. Wright has pleaded not guilty in that case, federal prosecutors said. Federal prosecutors said an agent with the FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force in Cleveland saw a live video stream on March 14, 2025, in which Wright illegally engaged in sexually explicit activity with a 15-year-old girl. Investigators tracked them to an AirBnB rental in Norwich, Connecticut, where investigators arrested Wright and rescued the victim. The girl had met Wright when she was 14. They engaged in illegal sexual activity and shared the recordings with each other, federal prosecutors said. The age of consent in Connecticut is 16, the same as in Ohio. Wright also created an account on OnlyFans.com, an online subscription-based service for photos and videos that are often sexual in nature. Prosecutors said he uploaded sexually explicit videos of the girl to the account and pressured her to create more sexual content. Wright and the victim traveled to Vermilion in early March 2025 to create more illegal sexual content, federal prosecutors said. Acting on a tip, Vermilion police did a welfare check on the girl, then contacted the FBI. Norwalk (Ohio) police, four Connecticut police departments and state prosecutors and FBI agents in Connecticut also were involved in the investigation, federal prosecutors said. Contact Dave O'Brien at dobrien@chroniclet.com.