Moraima Escarlet Vasquez Flores Sentenced for Child Exploitation Offense

Burlington, Vermont – The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that on January 25, 2024, Moraima Escarlet Vasquez Flores, 40, of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, was sentenced in United States District Court in Burlington, Vermont, to serve 90 months in prison after her guilty plea to one count of aiding and abetting the receipt and attempted receipt of child pornography (also known as child sexual abuse material, or CSAM). U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss also ordered Vasquez Flores to serve a five-year term of supervised release and to pay a $100 special assessment.

According to court records and proceedings, Vasquez Flores participated in the production of a video which showed her inflicting sadistic abuse of a prepubescent boy who was known to her. In the video, Vasquez Flores slapped and hit the boy, whose arms and legs were bound. She placed her fully clothed genital area over the boy’s face and bounced on it. She also held her hands over his mouth and nose and appeared to suffocate him. By the end of the video, it appeared that the child was unconscious. Vasquez Flores made the video knowing that it would be sent to a sexual sadist who would use the video for sexual stimulation.

A link to the video was sent on October 13, 2018, to Sean Fiore, Vasquez Flores’ co-defendant. On March 25, 2022, Judge Reiss sentenced Fiore to serve 27-years in prison, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release, following his guilty plea to murder for hire, conspiracy to kidnap and murder a person overseas, conspiracy to produce child pornography (CSAM), and possession of child pornography (CSAM). Judge Reiss also ordered Fiore to pay restitution to the victims of his offense conduct.

United States Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest commended the efforts of Homeland Security Investigations and the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in the investigation of Vasquez Flores and Fiore.

Barbara A. Masterson, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont, Patrick Jasperse, Trial Attorney with the Department of Justice’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, and Eduardo Palomo, Trial Attorney with the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, represented the government. Sara Puls and Steven Barth of the Office of the Federal Public Defender represented Vasquez Flores.  

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Judicial Attaché’s office at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota provided critical assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of Vasquez Flores.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and Child Exploitation Obscenity Section, Criminal Division (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals  who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc .