Man Sentenced to 35 Years in Federal Prison for Producing Child Pornography

A man who produced child pornography was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison today, announced United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.

Emmanuel Jacobo Reyes, a 27-year-old Mexican citizen, pled guilty in July 2025, to one count of production of child pornography and one count of receipt of child pornography. Today, he was sentenced to 420 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Terry Means.

According to court documents, the defendant admitted that he enticed a minor victim living in the North Texas area to engage in sexually explicit conduct, produce visual depictions of such conduct, and transmit the depictions to Reyes.  At the time, Reyes resided in North Carolina.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Fort Worth Field Office, working from information provided by the North Richland Hills Police Department, reviewed contents of the minor victim’s phone that included screenshots of video chats between Reyes and the victim.  As Reyes’s face was visible in some of the screenshots, agents were able to find his social media profile, confirm his identity, and determine his location.

FBI’s Fort Worth Field Office, FBI-Raleigh, NC, North Richland Hills Police Department, and the Raleigh, NC Police Department conducted this investigation.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Allyson Monte.

This case was part of the FBI’s national Operation Restore Justice, a coordinated enforcement effort to identify, track and arrest child sex predators.  The operation resulted in the rescue of 115 children and the arrests of 205 child sexual abuse offenders in the nationwide crackdown.  The coordinated effort was executed over the course of five days by all 55 FBI field offices, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in the Department’s Criminal Division, and United States Attorney’s Offices around the country.  In many cases, parental vigilance and community outreach efforts played a critical role in bringing these offenders to justice.

The Justice Department is committed to combating child sexual exploitation and brought this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood 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, visit www.justice.gov/psc.

The Department partners with and oversees funding grants for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which receives and shares tips about possible child sexual exploitation received through its 24/7 hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST and on missingkids.org.

The Department urges the public to remain vigilant and report suspected exploitation of a child through the FBI’s tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324), tips.fbi.gov, or by calling your local FBI field office.