MEXICAN MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO ATTEMPTED ENTICEMENT OF A MINOR AND IMMIGRATION OFFENSE

PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA – Noe Zamudio Hernandez, 43, of Mexico, pleaded guilty in federal court to attempted enticement of a minor and illegal reentry of a previously removed alien. The plea was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

U.S. Attorney Heekin said: “Thanks to the excellent investigative work of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, in close collaboration with our federal law enforcement partners, this previously deported illegal alien was stopped before he could sexually victimize a child. My office will continue to back up this great work by our law enforcement partners with successful prosecutions, and this criminal alien sexual predator will find himself in federal prison before being swiftly deported from this country.”

Court documents reflect that the defendant came under investigation in 2024 during an operation aimed at identifying individuals targeting children for sexual exploitation. During the operation, the defendant communicated with an individual he believed was a minor to arrange for a sexual transaction. When the defendant was arrested, law enforcement learned he was unlawfully present in the United States and had been previously removed to Mexico.

Zamudio Hernandez faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment up to life in prison. 

The case involved a joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Meredith L. Steer.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 26, 2026, at the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee before United States District Judge Mark E. Walker.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime, human and drug trafficking.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice and led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), it marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General.  To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl.