Sex Offender Heads to Prison for Possession of Child Pornography…Again

LAREDO, Texas – A 44-year-old sex offender has been ordered to federal prison for nearly 20 years for failing to register and for possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson. Gamaliel Cortez-Mendoza, 44, of Laredo, pleaded guilty May 26, 2015.

Today, visiting Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack ordered he serve 235 months and 120 months for the possession and failure to register convictions, respectively. The sentences will run concurrently. In handing down the sentence, Judge Jack statedthat people like the defendant create the market for child pornography and a lengthy sentence was necessary to protect the public based on his past conduct and inability to control himself. Cortez-Mendoza will be on supervised release for the rest of his life 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.

Cortez-Mendoza was arrested in January following an investigation by the Laredo Child Exploitation Task Force led by Homeland Security Investigations and the Webb County Sheriff's Office Cyber Crime Unit with assistance from the Laredo Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety and U.S. Marshals Service. 

The Webb County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crime Unit learned that an individual living at Cortez-Mendoza’s address had been downloading child pornography. Investigators then executed search warrants on Cortez-Mendoza’s home and computers. Forensic analysis later revealed numerous videos and pictures depicting child pornography. Cortez-Mendoza admitted downloading and viewing the videos. 

Cortez-Mendoza had previously been convicted in 2004 of possessing child pornography in Harris County and was also required to register as a sex offender.

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

The case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alfredo De La Rosa, was brought as part of as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."