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Press Release

Queens Man Convicted of Enticing Minor for Sexual Acts Sentenced to 10 Years’ Imprisonment

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York
Defendant Used Social Media to Target 12-Year-Old Victim and Create Child Pornography

Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Christopher Arroyo was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for coercing and enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct.  The sentencing proceeding was held before United States District Judge Jack B. Weinstein, who also imposed a term of five years’ supervised release to follow Arroyo’s prison sentence, during which time he must register as a sex offender, and he will not be allowed unsupervised contact with minors.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.

“Arroyo sexually exploited a child through social media, using threats and harassment to publicly shame the victim with the explicit images he enticed her to create,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “Today’s sentence will serve not only to protect the public from the defendant for a significant period of time, but it will also serve as a message to other child predators using the Internet to target victims that they will be found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

“The FBI New York Crimes Against Children Task Force won’t ever stop investigating and arresting every predator we can, but it is incredibly difficult to stop predators before they make initial contact,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney.  “Cell phones, computers and social media give sexual criminals easy access to your children that they’ve never had before and that we did not have to contend when we were younger.  Parents, guardians, educators, and other adults can help law enforcement create a much stronger line of defense against these predators.  Please talk with your children and students about their social media presence, and take the time to both learn and teach our children how to protect themselves online.  You can go to https://sos.fbi.gov for ways to start that conversation.” 

As set forth in the charging instruments and the defendant’s plea allocution, beginning in 2012, Arroyo, who was 21 at the time, used Facebook and other social media platforms to meet and then entice a 12-year-old victim to take sexually explicit images of herself and engage in other sexual conduct as directed by Arroyo.  Arroyo continued to exploit this young victim for years, and when the victim refused to comply with Arroyo’s demands, he threatened and harassed her, stating that he would publicly post images of her across the Internet. 

In 2015, Arroyo followed through on those threats, and created multiple fake social media accounts to which he posted explicit images of the victim.  After tracing Arroyo’s online activity to his residence in Queens, FBI agents executed a search of his home and seized multiple computers and other electronic devices.  A forensic examination of those devices revealed that Arroyo had archived images of the victim in an electronic folder bearing her name. 

This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Assistant United States Attorneys G. Karthik Srinivasan and Drew G. Rolle are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendant:

CHRISTOPHER ARROYO
Age: 26
Queens, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 16-CR-376 (S-1) (JBW)

Contact

John Marzulli
Tyler Daniels
United States Attorney’s Office
(718) 254-6323

Updated March 20, 2018

Topic
Project Safe Childhood