HARTFORD, CT – Federal authorities announced Tuesday that a 21-year-old Ecuadorian citizen living in West Haven has been charged with multiple child exploitation offenses following an investigation that spanned from Connecticut to Minnesota.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Jose Israel Tenesaca Mejia was arrested in Minneapolis in October after allegedly fleeing Connecticut with a 14-year-old girl. Stamford Police had previously obtained an arrest warrant for Tenesaca Mejia on April 29, charging him with felony risk of injury and interfering with an officer.
The FBI’s New Haven Division, working with its Minneapolis office, tracked Tenesaca Mejia’s cellphone to a specific location in Minneapolis, where investigators located both him and the minor victim. He was taken into custody without incident.
Court documents allege that a preliminary forensic review of Tenesaca Mejia’s iPhone revealed videos and images showing him engaged in sexual conduct with the minor victim, along with additional files of suspected child pornography downloaded via the Telegram app.
On December 5, Tenesaca Mejia was charged by federal complaint with sexual exploitation of children, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison, and possession of child pornography, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. He has been detained since his arrest and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert A. Richardson in Hartford this week.
U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan emphasized that the charges are allegations and that Tenesaca Mejia is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The investigation involved the FBI’s New Haven and Minneapolis Divisions, the Stamford Police Department, and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel E. Cummings is prosecuting the case.