Texas Man Who Sexually Abused a Minor and Attempted to Influence the Victim’s Testimony at Trial Pleads Guilty in Federal Court

A Brownsville, Texas man who coerced a minor to engage in live stream sessions featuring sexually explicit conduct, and retained digital images from the sessions, pled guilty on May 10, 2023, in federal court in Sioux City.  Isaac Herrera, age 22, from Brownsville, Texas was convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor.

In a plea agreement, and at the plea hearing, Herrera admitted that he sexually abused a minor child who was between the ages of 12 and 16 at the time, and possessed child pornography depictions of the victim and other minors on his phone.  Herrera further admitted to contacting the victim in order to influence his testimony at trial, while Herrera was in jail pending trial in this case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Herrera remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Herrera faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 5 years up to life of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ron Timmons and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Sioux City Police Department. 

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 22-4060.

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