Reston Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography and Failure to Appear After Fleeing District
| U.S. Attorney’s Office July 25, 2013 |
ALEXANDRIA, VA—Alex Ernesto Calderon Velasquez, 27, of Reston, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to two counts of production of child pornography and one count of failing to appear in court as required.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Lt. Colonel Edwin C. Roessler, Jr., Acting Fairfax County Chief of Police, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge Anthony J. Trenga.
Calderon Velasquez pleaded guilty to a two-count criminal information charging production of child pornography and faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison on each count when he is sentenced on October 25, 2013. He also pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with failure to appear while on pretrial release and faces a separate maximum of 10 years of imprisonment on that charge.
“Defendant Velasquez is a cyber predator—plain and simple,” said U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride. “Using the Internet, Velasquez targeted and victimized vulnerable juveniles. The protection of our children is amongst our highest priorities and we will vigorously prosecute all those that endanger our youth. I would also like to commend our law enforcement partners for apprehending Velasquez after he fled our jurisdiction during the pendency of his case.”
“This case demonstrates the danger of an individual who grooms children online and lures them into sending images that can never be erased,” said Assistant Director in Charge Parlave. “Along with our partners, the FBI is committed to apprehending individuals who sexually exploit minors and we will continue to diligently work together to identify these predators and their victims.”
Lt. Colonel Roessler stated, “protecting the greatest asset of our communities—our youth—is a priority, and crimes such as these shall not be tolerated. We are grateful our law enforcement partnership has protected our community through the justice system.”
According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement and other court documents, Calderon Velasquez used his computer to communicate with a 14-year-old girl in Texas, referred to as Minor A. In about September 2012, Calderon Velasquez sexually groomed and then extorted the victim to strip and engage in sexual activity over Skype chats, which Calderon Velasquez recorded and kept on his computer along with other child pornography. Separately, from about September 2011 through about October 2011, Calderon Velasquez also persuaded and enticed another victim, Minor B, in Arizona to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purposes of producing video recordings, which the defendant then stored on his laptop computer in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Originally, Calderon Velasquez was scheduled to plead guilty to production of child pornography on May 24, 2013. On the morning of his guilty plea hearing, however, Calderon Velasquez fled. That morning, law enforcement officers discovered the remains of his cut ankle bracelet in Vienna, Virginia. He was later captured on June 7, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas.
This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation Task Force, the Fairfax County Police Department, and the Harris County Constable’s Office in Texas. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander T.H. Nguyen and Jay V. Prabhu are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.