Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Child Pornography

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – United States District Court Chief Judge Raúl Arias Marxuach sentenced Francisco Xavier Ortiz-Colón to 30 years in prison,10 years of supervised release, and registration as a sex offender for nine counts of production of child pornography, eight counts of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual conduct, one count of receipt of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. On November 9, 2022, Ortiz-Colón was found guilty of 19 counts of child pornography.

According to court documents and testimony during trial, from August 2019 through June 2020, Ortiz-Colón induced, enticed, and coerced nine female victims, ranging from nine to fourteen years of age, to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography. Ortiz-Colón used multiple Instagram accounts to commit these crimes.

During trial, the government presented evidence to prove that Ortiz-Colón used three Instagram accounts, while impersonating a female user, to procure armpit photos of the minor victims. After obtaining photos of the minors’ armpits and breasts, he used those photos to extort further explicit pornographic photos of the minors. HSI law enforcement agents executed several search warrants of the address where Ortiz-Colón’s Instagram account IP Address was identified and found him in possession of the smartphone through which he exercised control of the Instagram accounts used to extort the minor victims.

“The sentenced imposed today reflects the heinous nature the crimes committed by the defendant and the abuse inflicted on his victims,” said W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will relentlessly investigate and prosecute the misuse of social media platforms to commit these atrocious crimes.”

“Today’s sentencing not only concludes a long emotional process of victim testimonies which impacted everybody present in the courthouse, but most importantly provides closure to all the minors who this predator attacked with no mercy,” said HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge Rebecca González-Ramos. “This man once told one of his victims that he would never get caught by law enforcement, he believed he was above the law, preying on our children. HSI arrested him and a jury found him guilty, it’s time to face a long sentence in jail.”

The Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenifer Y. Hernández-Vega, Project Safe Childhood Coordinator in the Child Exploitation and Immigration Unit, prosecuted the case.

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