HSI arrests a Florida previous sex offender for possession of child pornography
Man failed to register as a sex offender in Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A registered sex offender in Florida, who failed to register as such in Puerto Rico, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents Tuesday, at his place of residence in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, for possession of child pornography.
David Ruben Rodriguez-Servan, 31, was arrested by HSI special agents during the execution of a federal search that led to the discovery of child pornography on electronic material seized as part of the investigation.
"Child exploitation is one of the most heinous crimes that HSI investigates," said Angel Melendez, acting special agent in charge of HSI San Juan. "HSI will continue its work with law enforcement partners — using every tool at our disposal — to keep our children safe."
According to the criminal complaint, on or about Feb. 1 HSI received a referral from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) detailing the Oct. 21 upload of images of child pornography to an Internet website.
Based, in part, on the information provided in the NCMEC referral, as well as other information gathered from the investigation, HSI special agents executed a search warrant Tuesday morning at Rodriguez-Servan's home, where they found several images depicting children engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Some of the images were the same as those that were uploaded to the Internet on Oct. 21.
In response to the need for an island-wide approach to fight the escalation of predatory crimes against children, HSI San Juan partnered with members of local, state and federal law enforcement, as well as local and state government officials and community leaders, to form the Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force in June 2011.
Through Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force, agencies work together to effectively pool their resources to jointly investigate all crimes against children in Puerto Rico. Through the task force, law enforcement officers are encouraged to share evidence, ideas, and investigative and forensic tools to ensure the most successful prosecutions possible. As such, the Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force allows law enforcement to speak with one unified voice in defense of the children of Puerto Rico.
If convicted, because Rodriguez-Servan is already a registered sex offender in the state of Florida, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a statutory maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
This investigation was also part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE 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 and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.
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