ICE HSI investigation leads to 15-year prison sentence for Kentucky man arrested at Canadian border while attempting to meet minor victim he met online

LEXINGTON, Ky. — After pleading guilty to production of child pornography, Moctezuma Lopez, 28, of Paris, Kentucky, was sentenced in federal court to serve 180 months in prison.

The sentence was announced on Monday by U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky Carlton S. Shier, IV, HSI Nashville Special Agent in Charge Jerry C. Templet, Jr. and Lexington Police chief Lawrence Weathers.

The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Lexington Police Department.

According to his November 2021 plea agreement on file with the court, on or before August 2017, Lopez admitted to meeting a minor victim online and communicating with her for over two years over social media applications and the Internet. In September 2019, Lopez traveled from Lexington, Kentucky, to the Canadian border to meet the victim, but was stopped at the border. Law enforcement found explicit photographs of the victim on his phones, which Lopez admitted he enticed the victim to produce.

Under federal law, Lopez must serve 85% of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for life.

HSI is a directorate of ICE and the principal investigative arm of DHS, responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 7,100 special agents assigned to 220 cities throughout the United States, and 80 overseas locations in 53 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.

If anyone suspect a child might be a victim of exploitation, you are encouraged to call the HSI Tipline at 866-347-2423, or visit https://www.ice.gov/tipline.

Learn more about HSI Nashville’s fight against child exploitation in your community at @HSI_Nashville.