West Texas man faces up to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography

LUBBOCK, Texas — A west Texas man pleaded guilty Friday to a federal child pornography offense, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

The Abilene (Texas) Police Department, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated this case.  

Reymundo Alejandro Sanchez, 21, from Abilene, Texas, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to one count of possessing child pornography.  He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release.  Judge Cummings ordered a presentence investigation report; the sentencing date will be set after that report is completed.  Sanchez remains on bond.

According to plea documents filed in the case, Sanchez used his cell phone to communicate with several persons using a mobile application called Kik, as well as through Facebook and other means.  Many of those persons identified themselves to Sanchez as minors.

Sanchez engaged many of those persons in sexually oriented communication, which often included Sanchez sending one or more sexually explicit images of himself.  In exchange, Sanchez sometimes received images or videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  One example of such child pornography was a video that Sanchez received about April 30, 2014, which depicted a female minor, under age 18, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy is prosecuting the case.

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.