Illegal alien living in Abbeville sentenced to 90 months in prison for possessing child pornography

LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney David C. Joseph announced that an illegal alien from Mexico was sentenced Wednesday to seven years and six months in prison for using his phone and an online account to acquire and possess child pornography. 

Paul Armenta-Bojorquez, 34, of Sinaloa, Mexico, but who resided in Abbeville, Louisiana, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. on one count of possession of child pornography. According to the May 16, 2018 guilty plea, law enforcement agents interviewed Armenta-Bojorquez on November 13, 2017 regarding possession of child pornography. He told agents that he received child pornography through his phone and then transferred it onto an online account. Law enforcement agents reviewed the material found on the online account, and it contained child pornography. Some of the material was of children who were younger than 12.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood combines 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) also encourage the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at (866) 347-2423.  Investigators are available at all hours to answer hotline calls.  Tips or other information can also be submitted to ICE online by visiting their website at www.ice.gov/exec/forms/hsi-tips/tips.asp or through the Operation Predator smartphone application www.ice.gov/predator/smartphone-app.  Tips may be submitted anonymously.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Louisiana Attorney General’s Louisiana Bureau of Investigation Cyber Crime Unit conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Rossetti prosecuted the case.