|
Only have a minute? Listen instead
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A 38-year-old McAllen man was sentenced to prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to transporting child pornography using his Google account, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
Oscar Ramirez Jr. entered a guilty plea on Oct. 23, 2023 after it was discovered that he was in possession of about 2,070 files of child pornography, including 64 videos, some of which were 20 minutes long.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution to known victims.
During his hearing, the court heard that Ramirez had been previously convicted of aggravated sexual assault in 2010.
On July 7, 2022, special agents assigned to the Homeland Security Investigations led Rio Grande Valley Child Exploitation Investigations Task Force received an investigative referral from the Texas Attorney General’s Office generated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to a criminal complaint.
“The referral came from Google involving an account suspected of uploading multiple files of child pornography into a Google account on or about May 4, 2022,” the complaint said.
On July 28 that same year, agents served Google with a search warrant of multiple accounts controlled by Ramirez.
On or about Aug. 2 of that year, Google provided a return for the search warrant.
Agents reviewed one file that met the definition of child pornography as it displayed a female child around the age of 10 or 12 who exposed herself and performed a sexual act on camera.
The account also contained various “selfies” of Ramirez as well as videos of himself engaging in sexual intercourse with a woman.
On Sept. 14, 2022 special agents executed a federal search warrant at 2519 N. 28th Lane in McAllen and encountered Ramirez.
During the interview, Ramirez was shown several videos that had been uploaded to the Google account of which Ramirez positively identified his foot in one video and his penis in another.
“The video containing Ramirez’s foot, and the video of his penis were taken from his point of view, indicating that Ramirez was in control of the device taking the videos,” the complaint said.
A review of the other Google accounts associated with Ramirez revealed that he also had images and videos of a nude minor victim Ramirez had recorded from outside a window as well as from a vent in the ceiling of a bathroom.
Ramirez is to remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility which will be determined in the near future.
