Douglas man sentenced to 60 years in prison for production and distribution of child pornography

TUCSON, Ariz. – Josue Eduardo Cota, 33, of Douglas, Ariz., was sentenced Feb. 13, to serve 720 months in prison for producing and distributing child pornography following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Marquez. Cota’s term of imprisonment will be followed by lifetime supervised release, with stringent sex offender conditions, including the condition that he register as a sex offender, if he is released from prison.

In February of 2017, HSI special agents out of the Douglas office, discovered videos showing sexual abuse of pre-pubescent children while reviewing evidence from a child exploitation case in Canada. Special agents tracked the distribution of the videos to a person in Douglas, Ariz., and determined that Cota, a former corrections officer in Douglas, had been producing sexually explicit videos of multiple children and distributing them online. On Nov. 30, 2017, Cota pleaded guilty to eight counts of production of child pornography. Cota’s sentence, was aggravated by the facts that he sexually abused very young children and had engaged in a pattern of sexual exploitation of minors, which he shared with others through distribution of the videos.

The prosecution was handled by Carin C. Duryee, District of Arizona, Tucson.

HSI’s participation in this case was part of Operation Predator, an international HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 16,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2016, more than 2,600 child predators were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 800 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.