Trinidad and Tobago man receives nearly 13 years in prison following child pornography guilty plea

EL PASO, Texas – A Trinidad and Tobago man, living in El Paso under an assumed identity, was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in federal prison for receiving and possessing child pornography.

This case was investigated by U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Garvin Cadogan, 45, was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison for receiving child pornography, 120 months on two counts of possessing child pornography, and 36 months for his false claim to U.S. citizenship. U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo ordered all the prison terms to run concurrently.

On Feb. 23, HSI special agents executed a search warrant at Cadogan's east El Paso apartment. While executing the warrant, special agents discovered that one of his computers was downloading and sharing multiple files via a peer-to-peer network, which depicted minors being sexually exploited. Special agents arrested him and seized his home computer. A forensics analysis of Cadogan's seized computer revealed the presence of more than 200 child pornography videos.

Cadogan pleaded guilty to the charges Oct. 19. By pleading guilty, Cadogan admitted that he received and possessed child pornography, and that he falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen at the time of his arrest.

Cadogan is actually a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago who assumed the identity of a Pennsylvania resident. Cadogan used this stolen identity to work in El Paso. Furthermore, he used the identity to secure a valid driver's license, an apartment and to meet his basic necessities.

The Pennsylvania resident is a disabled elderly man who received Social Security benefits. But these benefits were terminated because Cadogan used his identity for employment purposes. Due to the loss of benefits, the victim almost lost his house and had to rely on his family for food and basic needs.

"This HSI investigation and resulting 12-year prison sentence send a clear message to the community," said Dennis A. Ulrich, special agent in charge for HSI El Paso. "In addition to arresting child predators, we also identify other sinister criminals. This individual took advantage of the system, and wreaked havoc on the life of a disabled U.S. citizen whose identity he stole."

This investigation was 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 & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

HSI is a founding member and the U.S. representative 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.