DALLAS—A Hutchins, Texas, man, Servando Vega Cervantes, 24, appeared this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney and pleaded guilty to an indictment charging three counts of production of child pornography, announced John Parker, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Cervantes faces a statutory penalty of not less than 15 years and not more than 30 years in federal prison, for each count. Each count also carries up to a $250,000 fine and up to a lifetime of supervised release. Cervantes has been in custody since his arrest in November 2014 on a related federal complaint. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 28, 2015, by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle.

According to documents filed in the case, the Hutchins Police Department contacted the FBI in May 2014 regarding questionable online communication between an 11-year-old victim, “John Doe #1,” and the Facebook user profile of “Laura Ortiz.” The victim’s mother believed the user of the Ortiz profile was actually an adult male and not a 13-year-old female as described in chat conversations between John Doe #1 and Ortiz. The investigation revealed that the user profile “Laura Ortiz” belonged to Cervantes. The investigation also revealed that John Doe #1 knew Cervantes as “Jordan,” an alias Cervantes used.

In May 2014, Cervantes enticed John Doe #1 to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of that conduct. In December 2013, Cervantes enticed another minor, under the age of 14, John Doe #2, to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of that conduct.

Cervantes admitted he had sexual contact with other minors.

Anyone who may have been victimized in this case is asked to contact the FBI at 972-559-5000.

The matter was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

The FBI’s Dallas Child Exploitation Task Force and the Hutchins Police Department are conducting the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks is in charge of the prosecution.