Juan Hernandez, 46, of El Paso, Texas, was sentenced late yesterday afternoon in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., for his child exploitation conviction. Hernandez was ordered to serve ten years in federal prison followed by fifteen years of supervised release. Hernandez will be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence.
The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), El Paso, Texas, Doña Ana County Sheriff Enrique Vigil, and Las Cruces Police Chief Jaime Montoya.
Hernandez was arrested on Feb. 28, 2014, by HSI on a criminal complaint alleging that he engaged in the online solicitation of a child under the age of 16 years between Sept. 2012 and June 2013. The criminal complaint also charged Hernandez with traveling from El Paso to Anthony, N.M., in June 2013, with the intention of having illicit sexual contact with a child under the age of 16 years.
According to court filings, Hernandez met the child victim through an Internet social networking website in Sept. 2012, and the two began communicating regularly by text messaging on cellphones in May 2013. Hernandez was arrested on state charges in the early hours of June 22, 2013, after deputies of the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office found him with the child victim at a park in Anthony, N.M.
In July 2013, HSI obtained federal search warrants for the cellphones seized from Hernandez and the child victim. Information obtained through the search warrants revealed that Hernandez engaged in sexually explicit communication with the child victim. It also revealed that Hernandez was aware that the child victim was under the age of 16 years and that prior to meeting the child victim, Hernandez told the child victim that he was 17, 18 and 22 years old at various times.
On Aug. 13, 2014, Hernandez pled guilty to a felony information charging him with the online enticement of a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity. In entering his guilty plea, Hernandez admitted intentionally enticing underage females online to engage in illegal sexual activity with him between Sept. 1, 2012 and June 22, 2013, by using a social account which he accessed with his cellphone and computer. Hernandez admitted telling minor females that he was 18-years-old. Hernandez specifically admitted engaging in multiple sexually explicit conversations with a 13-year-old girl.