A 46-year-old Amarillo man who posed as a 14-year-old boy online to manipulate a 10-year-old girl into sending him explicit images was sentenced Friday to 25 years in federal prison.
Willie Gonzales, who pleaded guilty in April to one count of producing child pornography, appeared for a sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, who sent him to prison for 300 months, followed by a life full supervised release.
Gonzales’ charges stem from an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the Texas Department of Public Safety that began in November 2022 after agents received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that sexual abuse images children were being uploaded onto the Internet. Agents discovered the images came from a device in Gonzales’ home, according to court records.
A warranted search of the home revealed an iPhone containing sexually explicit images of a 10-year-old girl, according to court documents.
Gonzales admitted to owning the phone and an inspection of the device yielded 11 images and 10 video recordings of the girl.
Investigators also found messages on the phone between Gonzales and the girl, persuading the child to send him explicit photos and videos of herself, court documents state.
This article originally appeared in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Amarillo man sentenced to 25 years for producing child pornography
