Charges and evidence
Police and court records show Scharr was charged on Sept. 2 with two counts of first-degree criminal attempt to commit sexual assault, two counts of risk of injury to a minor, commercial sex abuse of a minor, promoting a minor in an obscene performance and first-degree illegal possession of child sex abuse material.
The warrants trace the investigation to January 2023, when the FBI turned over recordings and sexually explicit material to Newington police. An undercover agent had obtained the material through exchanges with Scharr. It included photographs and videos identified as child sexual abuse material, along with recorded messages discussing sexual assaults involving juveniles.
One warrant described a compact disc containing screen recordings of Scharr's messages. According to that warrant, the undercover contact took place through Telegram and the dating app Scruff. The Telegram exchanges included photographs, six videos of child pornography and references to juvenile sexual assaults.
Investigators also searched a cellphone Scharr had used. The warrant described messages about sexual contact with young boys but said the phone contained no videos. During a police interview, Scharr acknowledged using a screen name officers asked him about and several messaging and dating apps.
Allegations involving a juvenile
The information given to police also identified a boy as a potential victim whom Scharr referred to in his conversations with the undercover agent. The warrant described those conversations as being about "sharing and raping."
After the state Department of Children and Families was notified, a relative told caseworkers that the juvenile had experienced "inappropriate encounters" with Scharr, according to the warrant. The alleged incidents included Scharr getting into the juvenile's bed naked and showing the juvenile pornographic images involving an adult and a boy.
Arrest in Canada and return to Connecticut
Canadian authorities took Scharr into custody in December 2025. The River Valley Sun reported on Dec. 19, 2025, that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested him in Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation), New Brunswick, under a warrant issued pursuant to Canada's federal Extradition Act.
Scharr appeared in custody before Chief Justice Tracey Deware at the Court of King's Bench in Woodstock, New Brunswick, on Dec. 18, 2025, the newspaper reported. Described in court as an American citizen, he was remanded to the Madawaska jail while awaiting a bail hearing scheduled for Dec. 29.
At the Dec. 18 hearing, Jacqueline Palumbo, legal counsel to the Attorney General of Canada, said Connecticut authorities wanted Scharr on charges of "invitation to sexual touching and possession of child sexual abuse and exploitation material," according to the River Valley Sun. Palumbo said the Attorney General would seek an extradition order returning him to U.S. authorities. Defense counsel Lindsay Paul told the court Scharr would seek bail pending an extradition hearing.
Police said Scharr was extradited to the United States in September 2026 and arrested. He was held on a $1 million bond, and court documents list a Dec. 15 pretrial hearing at state Superior Court in New Britain.
