Miramar Man is Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison for an On-Line Child Exploitation Scheme to Produce Child Pornography

Miami, Florida – A federal district judge in Fort Lauderdale has sentenced Andres Camilo Ruiz, 31, of Miramar, Florida, to 40 years in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release as a sexual offender, for production of child pornography, enticement of a minor, and possession and distribution of child pornography.  Ruiz was also ordered to pay restitution to his victims.

Beginning in November of 2018 and continuing through May 14, 2019, Ruiz pretended to be a 12-year-old child named “June” on social media platforms where he met other children throughout the country and tricked and coerced them into creating sexually explicit videos.  Ruiz would befriend these children on social media using web-based applications.  While pretending to be a child himself, Ruiz would prey upon the unsuspecting child victims by sending them sexually explicit videos of other children and encouraging them to perform the same sexual conduct, record it and send it back to him.  Ruiz exploited over 50 children.  The youngest child who was coerced by Ruiz into making a sexually explicit video of herself was only nine years old.  When Ruiz was arrested, law enforcement found an extensive collection of child pornography on his cell phone and in his cloud account: over 1100 images and videos including images of children engaged in sadomasochistic acts.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, announced the sentence imposed by United States District Judge Roy K. Altman.  

FBI Miami investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jodi L. Anton and Francis Viamontes prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case no. 19-cr-060223.

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