A federal grand jury in Hartford on Wednesday returned an indictment charging New London landlord Richard Bruno with attempting to entice a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity and production of child pornography.

Bruno, 46, of Waterford owns about 10 rental properties in New London, according to public records. He came to the attention of New London police earlier this year after they received information that he was attempting to extort sexual acts in lieu of cash from tenants. He was charged by state authorities in May with arranging to meet a 13-year-old girl and pay her for sex and with two counts of patronizing a prostitute.

He has remained incarcerated at the Bridgeport Correctional Center while federal authorities investigated the case and presented information to a grand jury. He will be arraigned in early January on the new charges.

The indictment alleges that from April 8 to May 5, 2016, Bruno used a cellphone and internet-based messaging and photograph-sharing services to attempt to entice a minor under the age of 18 to engage in sexual activity.　

The indictment further alleges that, from November 2015 through May 2016, Bruno enticed or coerced a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a video depiction of such conduct.

If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum 10 years in prison and a maximum term of life imprisonment for attempted enticement of a minor, and a mandatory minimum term of 15 years' imprisonment and a maximum term of life imprisonment for production of child pornography.

Bruno also faces the prospect of forfeiting any property used or intended to be used to commit the crimes, and the indictment indicates that if any of the property deemed forfeitable has been transferred, sold or deposited with a third party, the government will seek forfeiture of property of equal value.

In search warrant applications on file in New London Superior Court, police alleged Bruno was using an abandoned building at 19 Mountain Ave. to produce videos depicting himself engaged in bondage and sadomasochistic acts with young women. Police searched the property on May 20 and seized costumes, leather whips, sex toys, metal chains, used and unused condoms, Viagra, a Levitra prescription in Richard Bruno's name and assorted sex tapes and DVDs.

Court documents also indicate that police asearched Bruno's home at 33 Shore Road in Waterford and said they discovered a secret room off the master bedroom of the 4,100-square-foot house, accessible only by "removing a door molding to assess the locking mechanism."

Inside the hidden room, police said they found a bag of sex toys and a video viewing device loaded with pornography, according to the affidavits. The police said they discovered, on computers seized at the Bruno home, "apparently homemade pornographic videos that included Bruno as an actor and suspected juvenile girls as the other sex partner in bondage and sadomasochistic sex acts."

Using stills from the videos, police said they were able to locate a 17-year-old New London female who said Bruno paid her cash and small amounts of marijuana to have sex in front of a camera in the 19 Mountain Ave. building after school.

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Connecticut State Police and New London Police Department.　

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy V. Gifford.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.

k.florin@theday.com