West Texas man sentenced to 17 ½ years in federal prison following his guilty plea to receiving child pornography

LUBBOCK, Texas — A west Texas man was sentenced Thursday to 17 ½ years in federal prison following his guilty plea in March for receiving child pornography.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the San Angelo Police Department.

In addition, U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings ordered Victor Lopez, 47, of San Angelo, Texas, to serve an additional 20-year term of supervised release. This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

Lopez has been in federal custody since his arrest after HSI special agents executed a federal search warrant at his residence Jan. 23. He was indicted in February 2013 on several counts of receiving and possessing child pornography.

According to plea documents filed in the case, Lopez admitted that he used file-sharing software to collect numerous videos of child pornography, including depictions of sadistic and masochistic conduct.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.

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 1-866-347-2423 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, 1-800-843-5678.

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.