Mercedes man who downloaded child sexual abuse material sentenced to decade in federal prison

McALLEN, Texas – A 41-year-old Mercedes resident has been sentenced for downloading child sexual abuse material (CSAM) using a peer-to-peer program, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

Armando Jose Flores Jr. pleaded guilty July 10, 2024, to receipt of child pornography.  

U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton has now sentenced Flores to 121 months in federal prison. At the hearing, the court heard additional information including information detailing how Flores downloaded and stored 90 GB of CSAM across five devices. The material included over 4,500 images/videos which contained bondage, bestiality and infants/toddlers. Flores will also serve five years on supervised release following the 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. Flores will also be ordered to register as a sex offender. Restitution will be determined at a later date. 

On Jan. 9, 2024, law enforcement identified a computer making videos of CSAM available for download through a peer-to-peer file-sharing program. Several videos were downloaded and found to depict prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The computer’s IP address was registered to an address belonging to Flores in Mercedes.    

In February 2024, authorities executed a federal search warrant at his residence and seized four electronic devices. Each contained CSAM downloaded between approximately May 1, 2022, and Oct. 31, 2022.

Flores admitted to using a peer-to-peer file-sharing program on his computer to download and receive material that contained child pornography at his home. He stated he had been accessing child pornography through peer-to-peer networks for multiple years. 

He will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

FBI conducted the investigation. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexa D. Parcell is prosecuting 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.