West Texas man sentenced to more than 12 years for coercing, enticing a minor
EL PASO, Texas — An El Paso man was sentenced Tuesday to 151 months in prison for coercion and enticement of a minor, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The El Paso Police Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection assisted with the case.
According to court documents, on Aug. 25, Eduardo Lara Jr., 24, pleaded guilty to enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity. By pleading guilty, Lara admitted that he engaged in sexual activity with a 13-year-old on at least two occasions in February 2020 and March 2020 in El Paso.
In March, the parents of the minor reported the child missing. It was later determined that Lara took the child to Mexico where he engaged in sexual activity with the child over the course of several days. Lara further admitted that he sent the child sexually explicit photographs via a social media application and requested such photographs in return.
Lara has remained in custody since his arrest on April 17, 2020.
“Homeland Security Investigations special agents and our law enforcement partners successfully took another child predator off the streets,” said Taekuk Cho, acting special agent in charge of HSI El Paso. “This sentence exemplifies the commitment of HSI to identify, apprehend and prosecute those individuals who engage in coercing and enticing minors via the internet.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Winters, with the Western District of Texas, prosecuted the case.
HSI is a directorate of ICE and 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 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.
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