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FBI agents arrested a man on Tuesday accused of using social media to distribute child sexual assault material.
Alejandro Morales, who was born in 1996, was charged with distribution of child pornography.
The investigation into Morales began Nov. 4, 2020, when an undercover FBI employee discovered a person using the social media application Kik under the username “wakatanga335” and the vanity name “Scavenging Scavenger” distributed nine child sexual abuse videos, according to a criminal complaint.
The FBI identified a McAllen address and eventually traced it to Morales, who lives with his parents.
Special agents executed a search warrant at the residence Tuesday and discovered a black safe located on Morales’ bed.
“There were two thumb drives located within the safe (one red and one silver),” the complaint said.
The FBI said Morales waived his Miranda rights and spoke with agents without a lawyer, according to the complaint.
“Morales stated he used the account to both distribute and receive child pornography from subjects he befriended on Omegle,” the complaint said. “Morales told agents the silver thumb drive located within the safe contained all of the child pornography he currently possessed.”
The complaint said agents counted approximately 1 gigabyte of child sexual abuse material.
Furthermore, agents showed Morales still frames from the videos distributed on Kik in November 2020 and said he identified every image and admitted to distributing them.
“The videos distributed by Morales displayed minor children being sexually abused by adult males, as well as the lewd and lascivious display of the minor children’s genitals constituting child pornography … . Morales knew that watching, receiving, and distributing (child sexual assault material) was immoral and illegal,” the complaint states. “Morales stated, ‘It’s an addiction.’ Morales also stated there were disclaimers on Omegle advising ‘Predators are known to use this site.”
He was scheduled to make a first appearance Tuesday morning in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker.
