Man with homemade sex doll ordered to federal prison on child pornography charge

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A 44-year-old Corpus Christi man has been ordered to federal prison for possessing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick.

Lazaro Eugene Velasquez pleaded guilty Jan. 21.  

Today, U.S. District Judge David S. Morales ordered Velasquez to serve an 84-month sentence. At the hearing, the court heard that in addition to possessing hundreds of images and videos of child pornography, Velasquez also had a child-sized sex doll which was made of rags and clothed in children’s items. It was also covered in what appeared to be semen. 

Evidence revealed Velasquez also had images of a local child. While not originally pornographic, Velasquez had altered them. The new images had cartoon-like captions that made it appear the child was asking Velasquez to perform lewd sexual acts on her.

In handing down the sentence, the court noted that while Velasquez was not being sentenced for directly committing sexual abuse against a child, possession of child pornography is also a crime that victimizes minors. She explained that children can also be abused because people who seek out child pornography create a demand for the images to be produced.

Velasquez will serve 15 years on supervised release following completion of his prison term, during which time he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. He will also be ordered to register as a sex offender. 

In February 2019, law enforcement learned Velasquez had used his father’s computer to upload an image of child pornography to an internet search engine. They then conducted a search of the residence.

They ultimately found the sex doll laying on his bed, children’s clothing in his closet and a spiral notebook containing hand-written stories describing the sexual abuse of children. At that time, authorities also seized his electronic devices. Forensic examination resulted in the discovery of more than 700 images and videos containing child pornography on his cellular phone. It also had 69 images of a local child whom Velasquez had known for several years.

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 Corpus Christi Police Department – Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittany L. Jensen 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 tab on that page.