Former McAllen school aid gets 10 years on child porn charges

Only have a minute? Listen instead
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A former school aid from McAllen was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for downloading illicit material off the internet, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release Monday.

Ramiro Vasquez, 43, pleaded guilty on March 3 to downloading child pornography.

Authorities began an investigation in January 2020 over child sexual abuse material being shared on the internet, which led them to Vasquez’s address in McAllen, the release said.

The document reads that law enforcement executed a search warrant at his residence where they seized multiple electronic devices, one of which was in the process of downloading child pornography.

An analysis on the devices resulted in the discovery of 8,601 images and 1,366 videos of child sexual abuse material, according to the USAO.

Vasquez, who was employed as an instructional assistant for a McAllen ISD elementary school, was ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to each of the 20 identified victims and must serve eight years on supervised release following completion of his prison term, the release said.

In addition, Vasquez will be ordered to register as a sex offender.

The supervised release is designed to restrict his access to children and the internet, the document stated.

Vasquez remains in custody pending his transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.

Homeland Security Investigations led the probe. In a statement, HSI Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee, of San Antonio, referred to the crimes as “incomprehensible acts.”

“The significant sentence imposed on Ramiro Vasquez sends a clear message that there are serious consequences for those who exploit children,” Larrabee said in the statement.