Del Rio Man Sentenced To 25 Years In Federal Prison In Child Porn Case
Law Enforcement testimony revealed the defendant possessed 1,000 videos and 100 images depicting child pornography
In Del Rio, a former teacher at Calderon Elementary in the San Felipe Independent School District was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for possession and distribution of child pornography announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Janice Ayala.
In addition to the prison term, United States District Judge Alia Moses ordered that 40-year-old Ruben A. Vazquez pay a $ 5,000 fine and be placed under supervised release for ten years after completing his prison term.
On August 22, 2013, a jury convicted Vazquez of one count of receipt of child pornography, one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of access with the intent to view child pornography. Evidence presented during trial revealed that Vazquez was using peer to peer file sharing programs to access, receive and distribute videos of child pornography. During trial, law enforcement officers testified that Vazquez admitted to them that he had over 1,000 images and over 100 videos of child pornography.
On June 21, 2012, HSI special agents executed a search warrant at the defendant’s residence and seized several computers and related equipment. According to court records, a forensics evaluation of the seized items revealed the presence of child pornography videos that depict minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct along with evidence of child pornography files that had previously resided on the computer.
“The prevention and investigation of the exploitation of minors is a priority for HSI,” said Special Agent in Charge Janice Ayala, HSI San Antonio. “These investigations are pursued by dedicated special agents who not only work with the United States Attorney’s Office to bring predators to justice, but work tirelessly to prevent these crimes through extensive outreach and education.”
This case was investigated by HSI agents together with the investigators from the Beaumont Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Meghan McCalla, Ralph Paradiso and Matthew Watters prosecuted this case on behalf of the Government.
