Level 3 Sex Offender Pleads Guilty to Receiving Child Pornography from a Minor He Solicited on TikTok

BOSTON – A Boston man pleaded guilty today to coercing a minor he found on TikTok to send him child sexual abuse material. 

Hector Acevedo, 33, of Jamaica Plain, pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for Jan. 24, 2024. 

Acevedo is a Level 3 registered sex offender. Acevedo was previously convicted in Suffolk County Superior Court on multiple child and sexual exploitation offenses including trafficking of a person for sexual servitude, extortion by threat of injury, posing or exhibiting a child in state of nudity or sexual conduct, dissemination of matter harmful to minors, dissemination of child pornography and purchase or possession of child pornography. On Feb. 13, 2018, Acevedo was sentenced to five-to-seven years in state prison and three years of probation. 

While on state probation, Acevedo solicited a minor via TikTok and coerced the victim to engage in sexual conduct over video chat. 

The charge of receipt of child pornography by an individual previously convicted of a child pornography offense provides for a sentence of at least 15 years and up to 40 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Arlington and Revere Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elianna Nuzum of the Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.