Former manager of volleyball team sentenced to 17 years in prison for child pornography
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – An Isabela, Puerto Rico, man was sentenced to 17 years in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release Friday for production of child pornography. The investigation leading to this sentence was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force (PRCACTF).
Luis Montalvo-Cruz, 50, a former manager of the girls' volleyball team at Residencial Alturas de Isabela was arrested by HSI special agents March 31 at his place of residence in Isabela.
On or about March 31, Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) received a complaint from a woman who lives at Residencial Alturas de Isabela, the same housing project where Montalvo-Cruz and the 15-year-old female minor victim live.
According to the complaint, at approximately 2:00 a.m. March 31, an anonymous person knocked on the woman's door and left a small bubble bag containing a Micro SD card on the doorstep of her apartment.
When she reviewed the Micro SD card, she discovered nineteen video clips. Twelve of these video clips portrayed the female minor engaging in explicit sexual conduct with Montalvo-Cruz. The rest of the clips were voyeuristic type videos portraying five different female minors while they were playing at the volleyball court and the interior of apartments located at Residencial Alturas de Isabela. The videos were focused on the genital areas of the girls.
The woman identified one of the female minors portrayed in the voyeuristic videos as her 11-year-old daughter. She immediately contacted the mother of the other female minor and explained to her what she had seen in the videos. In the morning hours both women went to the PRPD precinct to file a complaint.
Later that same day, PRPD detained Montalvo-Cruz as a precautionary measure because the neighbors in the public housing project might attempt to kill him.
"We will simply not tolerate the victimization of our children," said Angel Melendez, acting special agent in charge of HSI San Juan. "Have no doubt, HSI will be knocking at the doors of those who exploit our children, and will arrest them and prosecute them."
In response to the need for an island-wide approach to fighting the escalation of predatory crimes against children, HSI San Juan partnered with members of local, state and federal law enforcement, as well as local and state government officials and community leaders, to form PRCACTF in June 2011.
Through PRCACTF, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies work together with local and state government agencies to effectively pool their resources to jointly investigate all crimes against children in Puerto Rico. Through the task force, law enforcement officers are encouraged to share evidence, ideas, and investigative and forensic tools to ensure the most successful prosecutions possible. As such, PRCACTF allows law enforcement to speak with one unified voice in defense of the children of Puerto Rico.
This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.
Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or its online resource for reporting child sexual exploitation.
HSI is a founding member and the U.S. representative of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.
Updated: