Orlando man sentenced to more than 6 years on child pornography charges

ORLANDO, Fla. – An Orlando man was sentenced Thursday to six years, three months in federal prison and five years of supervised release for receipt and possession of child pornography. The sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

On May 7, HSI special agents, along with agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, executed a federal search warrant at the residence of Daniel Acevedo-Mayen, 28. A forensic review of Acevedo-Mayen’s computer and thumb drive revealed he used a peer-to-peer program to download more than 60 videos of children involved in sexually explicit conduct with adults. Some of the children were as young as three years old.

"Child pornography, when released onto the Internet, lives on forever. It haunts the children depicted in it, who live daily with the knowledge that countless strangers use an image of their worst experiences for their own gratification," said Shane Folden, deputy special agent in charge of HSI Tampa, which oversees the agency’s Orlando office that conducted this investigation. "Working together with our law enforcement partners at the state and local level, we are able to put more of these predators behind bars."

Acevedo-Mayen pleaded guilty to the charges Sept. 10.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including producing and distributing online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking children. In fiscal year 2013, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE 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 & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.