Man sentenced to 30 years in prison for coercion, enticement and possession of child sexual abuse material
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — U.S. District Court Chief Judge Raul Arias Marxuach sentenced Francisco Xavier Ortiz-Colon to 30 years in prison, 10 years of supervised release, and registration as a sex offender for nine counts of production of child pornography, eight counts of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual conduct, one count of receipt of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. On November 9, 2022, Ortiz-Colon was found guilty of 19 counts of child pornography offenses.
According to court documents and testimony during trial, from August 2019 through June 2020, Ortiz-Colon induced, enticed and coerced nine female victims, ranging in age from nine to 14, to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child sexual abuse material. Ortiz-Colon used multiple Instagram accounts to commit these crimes.
During trial, the government presented evidence to prove that Ortiz-Colon used three Instagram accounts while impersonating a woman to procure armpit photos of the minor victims. After obtaining photos of the minors’ armpits and breasts, he used those photos to extort further explicit photos of the minors.
HSI agents executed several search warrants of the address where Ortiz-Colon’s Instagram account's IP address was identified and found him in possession of the smartphone through which he exercised control of the Instagram accounts used to extort the minor victims.
“The sentenced imposed today reflects the heinous nature the crimes committed by the defendant and the abuse inflicted on his victims,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico W. Stephen Muldrow. “The U.S. attorney’s office and our law enforcement partners will relentlessly investigate and prosecute the misuse of social media platforms to commit these atrocious crimes.”
“Today’s sentencing not only concludes a long emotional process of victim testimonies which impacted everybody present in the courthouse, but most importantly provides closure to all the minors who this predator attacked with no mercy,” said HSI San Juan acting Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Gonzalez-Ramos. “This man once told one of his victims that he would never get caught by law enforcement; he believed he was above the law, preying on our children. HSI arrested him and a jury found him guilty. It’s time to face a long sentence in jail.”
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenifer Y. Hernandez-Vega, who is the Project Safe Childhood Coordinator in the Child Exploitation and Immigration Unit, prosecuted the case.
HSI is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (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 more than 8,700 employees is comprised of more than 6,000 special agents stationed in 237 U.S. cities and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI's international presence represents the largest DHS investigative law enforcement presence overseas and one of the largest in U.S. law enforcement.
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