A 46-year-old Amarillo man who posed as a 14-year-old boy online to manipulate a 10-year old girl into sending him explicit images was sentenced Friday to 25 years in federal prison.
Willie Gonzales who pleaded guilty in April to a count of production of child pornography appeared for a sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, who who sent him to prison for 300 months followed by a lifetime of supervised release.
Gonzales’ charges stem from an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the Texas Department of Public Safety that began in November 2022 after agents received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that images of child sexual abuse were being uploaded to the Internet. Agents learned the images came from a device in Gonzales’ home, according to court records.
A warranted search of the home yeilded an iPhone containing sexually explicit images of a 10-year-old girl, according to court documents.
Gonzales admitted to owning the phone and an inspection of the device yielded 11 images and 10 video recordings of the girl.
Investigators also found messages on the phone between Gonzales and the girl, persuading the child to send him explicit photos and videos of herself, the records state.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Amarillo man sentenced to 25 years for producing child pornography
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