By EFE
02 Mar 2024, 14:45 PM EST
San Juan – The federal authorities of Puerto Rico reported this Saturday that two men were convicted of exploitation of minors.
The first individual, 53 years old, is a religious leader in the municipality of Cayey, in the north of the island, and was sentenced on February 27 by presiding judge Raúl M. Arias, to 240 months in prison for two counts of production of child pornography.
According to authorities, the man used a cell phone, as well as Internet instant messaging services, to knowingly persuade and coerce two 15-year-old male minors to engage in sexual activities, a criminal offense that includes the production of child pornography as defined in Title 18 of the United States Code.
Additionally, you knowingly employed, used, persuaded, induced, enticed and coerced a minor and attempted to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct.
On the other hand, a man from the municipality of Salinas, in the south of Puerto Rico, was sentenced by Superior Judge Francisco A. Besosa on February 9, 2024 to 51 months in prison followed by 5 years of probation for possession of material of child exploitation.
According to court documents, a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigation into chat rooms that used the chat app Viber to exchange child pornography identified members of the group.
The numbers of several users were affiliated with telephone numbers in Puerto Rico and were sent to the San Juan HSI to continue the investigation.
A search of an open source database revealed that one of the mobile phone numbers identified as a known member of those chat rooms was being used by one of the convicted men.
The federal prosecutor for Puerto Rico, W. Stephen Muldrow, and Rebecca González Ramos, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, made the announcement.
Homeland Security Investigations was responsible for investigating the case.
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DHS registers new increase in figures of sexual exploitation of minors in Puerto Rico