DALLAS — A Texas man who filmed himself sexually abusing a 5-year-old girl was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Wednesday.
Michael Angelo Vasquez, 27, of Dallas, pleaded guilty to a charge of production of child pornography in May 2021, The Dallas Morning News reported.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, Vasquez was charged by criminal complaint in July 2020 and indicted the following month.
Dallas man gets 30 years after admitting to filming sexual abuse of 5-year-old https://t.co/qglE5PI0zS
— Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) September 1, 2022
According to court documents, the investigation began after Vasquez’s then-girlfriend suspected he was involved in an affair and searched his iPhone for evidence of communication with other women, prosecutors said. Instead, the woman said she discovered images of Vasquez “engaging in sexually explicit conduct” with a young relative, the Morning News reported.
The woman reported the images to authorities, who obtained a search warrant for Vasquez’s telephone, according to KTVT. In the phone’s Google Photos app, agents located the video Vasquez’s girlfriend described, along with thumbnails from other videos depicting child sexual abuse, prosecutors said.
In plea papers, Vasquez admitted that he filmed at least four videos of himself sexually abusing the child and later shared the video online via an instant messaging platform, prosecutors said. During an interview with police, Vasquez admitted recording the four cellphone videos sometime in February or March 2020, the Morning News reported.
“While the lengthy sentence this defendant received is clearly justified, the emotional and physical abuse of the innocent child he victimized is likely to linger indefinitely,” Jesse Woods, assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in Dallas, said in a statement. “Proud of the work of our criminal analysts, special agents and law enforcement partners who helped end the deviant behavior of this defendant before he could harm another child. Even more important is the courage displayed by Mr. Vasquez’s then-girlfriend to report him to law enforcement when she discovered the child sexual abuse materials on his electronic devices.”
Vasquez’s attorney, Stephanie Eileen Inman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the Morning News.
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