South Texas man sentenced to 10 years in prison for soliciting a minor

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A local man was sentenced on Wednesday to10 years in federal prison for attempting to entice a minor via the Internet to engage in sexual activity. The case was jointly investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Corpus Christi Police Department's Internet Crimes against Children (CCPD-ICAC) Task Force.

Allen Manuel Ortega, 30, was sentenced to 120 months in prison on Sept. 21 by U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack. Ortega pleaded guilty May 25 to using the Internet to coerce and entice a minor to engage in sexual activity between Feb. 17 and March 4.

During that period, Ortega began communicating with an undercover officer with the task force. On multiple occasions, Ortega expressed his desire to engage in sexual acts with the undercover officer believing the officer was 14 years old. Ortega was arrested after appearing at a location agreed upon by the "minor to engage in sexual activity.

Judge Jack further ordered Ortega to register as a sex offender and serve a life term of supervised release after serving his prison sentence. A number of conditions were imposed to protect children; failure to abide by the conditions could lead to revocation of the supervised release term and yet another prison term.

Ortega has been in federal custody without bond since his March arrest. He will remain in custody pending transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility to be designated in the near future.