Former high school teacher sent to prison for possessing images and videos depicting sexual abuse of children

HOUSTON – A 35-year-old Houston resident has been sentenced for distribution and possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. 

Emilio Santiago De Los Santos pleaded guilty April 16.

U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal has now ordered De Los Santos to a total of 97 months in prison. He was further ordered to pay restitution to the victims and will serve 10 years on supervised release following completion of his prison term. During that time, he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. De Los Santos will also be ordered to register as sex offender.

“As a high school teacher, De Los Santos held a special trust, charged with watching over the children in his care. At the same time, he was sharing his own stash of child pornography with like-minded offenders and that’s what makes this crime especially abhorrent,” said Hamdani. “The exploitation of children has no place in our community and my office will vigorously prosecute those involved in the distribution and possession of child pornography to the fullest extent of the law, in particular a teacher like De Los Santos.”

“The FBI’s violent crimes against children squad consists of very special individuals who work every day to identify, investigate and arrest predators like De Los Santos,” said Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams of the FBI’s Houston Field Office. “Today’s sentencing is another testament to their commitment and dedication to protect our children from these types of monsters.”

De Los Santos came to the attention of law enforcement after he shared multiple child pornography files in various subgroup chatrooms on the Keybase application. Authorities obtained a search warrant for De Los Santos’s residence and seized his electronic devices. 

A forensic examination of those devices resulted in the discovery of 853 images and 380 videos of child pornography. The material included depictions of sexual abuse of infants and toddlers, sadistic and masochistic conduct involving children under the age of 12 and bestiality.

At the time of his arrest, De Los Santos was a high school teacher in the greater Houston area.

He has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The FBI conducted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherin Daniel prosecuted the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section leads PSC, which marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identifies and rescues victims. For more information about PSC, please visit DOJ’s PSC page. For more information about internet safety education, please visit the resources link on that page.