San Diego man sent to prison for 9 years in child pornography case

A gavel File photo courtesy of UC Berkeley Law Warning This post contains graphic language regarding a criminal event of sexual abuse and child exploitation A San Diego man was sentenced Friday in Washington D C to nine years in prison for posting child sexual abuse materials to an online chatroom The U S Attorney s Office in a news release announced Eduardo Alberto Zelaya Vides also aggressively encourag ed other group members to do the same while possessing a collection of child pornography that numbered more than digital files Zelaya Vides pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography on Feb before U S District Court Judge Beryl A Howell In addition to the prison term Howell ordered the defendant to serve years of supervised release register as a sex offender and provide in restitution to the children depicted in the images that he distributed According to court documents Zelaya Vides joined an instant messaging group which existed as a chatroom for the purpose of discussing the sexual exploitation of children and sharing child pornography To gain entry and remain in the group members were required to actively post and share content Zelaya repeatedly shared videos in the group and encouraged other members to share materials they collected According to the U S Attorney s Office in D C he repeatedly implored the group to post your sluts and post your young sluts On March an undercover officer assigned to the FBI s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force entered the chat group The undercover officer observed at least eight members of the group including Zelaya Vides post various images or videos From March until April the group posted dozens of scenes depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct On March Zelaya Vides inquired the group if anyone had used their daughters yet Another member replied I want someone that will share them with me On the same day the undercover officer participated in a private chat with Zelaya Vides during which the defendant advised the undercover officer that he was trying to get alone time with his nine-year-old niece On May law enforcement arrested Zelaya Vides FBI agents executed a search warrant at the defendant s home and recovered six digital devices three of which contained videos and images depicting the sexual abuse of children During his interview with investigators Zelaya Vides admitted that he participated in the chatroom He later admitted that he was aware that the pornographic images shared in the group depicted minors He further admitted that he uploaded images to the chatroom