El Paso, Texas Man Arrested on Federal Child Pornography Charges in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – Luis Fernando Moreno, 38, of El Paso, Texas, made his initial appearance today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., on a criminal complaint charging him with producing and possessing child pornography.  Moreno remains in federal custody pending a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing, which are scheduled for Jan. 23, 2018.

The criminal complaint alleges that Moreno produced and possessed child pornography in May 2013, in Dona Ana County, N.M.  According to the complaint, the Sunland Park Police Department initiated an investigation into Moreno after responding to an allegation that Moreno allegedly recorded a minor victim with his cellular phone while the minor victim was showering.  The complaint further alleges that images and videos of child pornography allegedly created by Moreno and depicting another minor victim were located on Moreno’s cellular phone and laptop computers. 

The statutory penalty for a conviction on a production of child pornography charge is a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years of imprisonment.  The statutory penalty for a conviction on a possession of child pornography charge is a maximum of ten years of imprisonment.  Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty in a court of law.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of Homeland Security Investigations, the Sunland Park Police Department and the Las Cruces Police Department with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa A. Ong of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office is prosecuting the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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 information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.  Individuals with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse are encouraged to contact the Children’s Advocacy Center at (575) 526-3437.

The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico.  There are 86 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office.  Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.