Guatemalan Man Convicted of Attempting to Sex Traffic a Minor

United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that on March 29, 2022, a federal jury in Omaha, Nebraska, found Eswin Lopez, aka David Cantu, guilty of attempted sex trafficking of a minor. Lopez, 29, originally from Guatemala, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. ordered a Pre-Sentence Investigation and set Lopez’s sentencing hearing for June 24, 2022, at 9:00 AM.

In August 2020 and January 2021, a deputy with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office posted an advertisement on a website commonly used for prostitution. Lopez responded to the phone number on the advertisement by text message and began communicating with an undercover deputy. The deputy claimed to be a 15-year-old girl. Lopez continued messaging and contacting who he thought was a 15-year-old on a daily basis, requesting sex. On January 15, 2021, Lopez agreed to pay $80 for a half hour of sex. Lopez then traveled from Waverly, Nebraska to Omaha, Nebraska and arrived at a prearranged meeting place with the cash and beer the minor requested.

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.

This case was investigated by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office as part of the FBI’s Child Enticement and Human Trafficking Task Force.