Uvalde Man Sentenced to More Than 12 Years in Federal Prison for Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Material

DEL RIO, Texas – A Uvalde man was sentenced in a federal court in Del Rio to 151 months in prison for distribution of child pornography.

According to court documents, Marco Jesus Perales, 27, distributed approximately 138 videos depicting child sexual abuse material between June 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020. In February 2020, Homeland Security Investigations in Eagle Pass received a report from a messaging application regarding the transmission of child pornography.

The report indicated that Perales sent three hyperlinks to multiple users within a group chat on Sept. 9, 2019. Analysis of the recovered hyperlinks revealed that they contained child pornography. One of the recovered hyperlinks distributed by Perales contained a folder with 62 videos visually depicting male and female minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In approximately 60 of the videos, the minors are clearly and obviously prepubescent. The other recovered hyperlink distributed by Perales contained a folder titled "Good Stuff,” which contained 76 additional videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Perales was arrested June 30, 2020 and pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography on June 24, 2021.

U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

HSI investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rex Beasley prosecuted the case.

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 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.

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