Student sentenced to 5 years for downloading, possessing child pornography

EL PASO, Texas – A 26-year-old University of Texas at El Paso student was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to downloading and possessing child pornography. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated the case.

Luis Enriquez-Alonso was also ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to the child victims in the pornography he possessed. Enriquez-Alonso tendered the restitution amount in court Sept. 30. U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo also ordered that after completing his prison term, Enriquez-Alonso be placed under supervised release for the remainder of his life.

On May 19, Enriquez-Alonso, a Mexican citizen residing in El Paso, pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. By pleading guilty, Enriquez-Alonso admitted that he used two individual Internet Protocol (IP) addresses – one at home, the other at the university – to download child pornography.

On Feb. 18, ICE HSI agents, along with investigators from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), executed a search warrant at Enriquez-Alonso's residence. Authorities recovered two laptop computers belonging to Enriquez-Alonso as well as other computer related media. A forensics examination of the confiscated items revealed the presence of more than 5,400 images and 128 videos depicting child pornography.

This case is part of ICE's Operation Predator, an ICE 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.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators by calling 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing our tip form.