McALLEN, TX – A 33-year-old Mexican citizen has been sentenced for receiving Lewd Images of Children, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
Orlando Diaz-Ramirez pleaded guilty on September 8, 2023, admitting to receiving 300 videos of Lewd Images of Children from Israel Flores, 22, of Los Fresnos. Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane has now sentenced Diaz to 97 months in federal prison. The court noted that Diaz had an additional eight gigabytes of child pornography on his Dropbox account and was employed as a choir teacher at a local middle school at the time of the offense. The court emphasized that Diaz’s actions contributed to the market for child pornography and the potential victimization of future children.
Flores was previously sentenced to 97 months in prison. Diaz and Flores are required to pay $24,000 and $21,000, respectively, to known victims. Both men will be ordered to register as sex offenders and serve five years of supervised release, which includes numerous restrictions on their access to children and the internet. As Diaz is not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face removal proceedings following his sentence.
In October 2020, authorities identified an individual uploadingLewd Images of Children to a Dropbox account and linked the associated IP address to Diaz’s residence in Donna. In April 2021, authorities executed a federal search warrant at Diaz’s residence, where he admitted to downloading Lewd Images of Children via Kik and uploading it to his Dropbox account. Diaz also disclosed that he possessed a USB drive containing child pornography received from Flores.
The investigation highlights the collaborative efforts of law enforcement to address and combat the distribution ofLewd Images of Children, underscoring the serious consequences for those involved in such activities.
