Monday, May 19, 2008

Two Houston Men Plead to Child Pornography Charges

The Department of Justice announced on Thursday that two men, Victor Saavedra and Keith Hernandez, both plead guilty to receipt of child pornography.

The case against Saavedra, 55, of Houston, was initiated when a concerned mother in Pennsylvania reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that her 14-year-old daughter had been asked to send nude pictures of herself to someone. NCMEC and the Texas Attorney General's Office identified the person as Victor Saavedra. A search of his residence and computer revealed the existence of another teenage girl from Canada who had been sending the defendant, at his request, images and movies of her nude and masturbating. Today, Saavedra entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Court Judge Ewing Werlein Jr., admitting he had met minor girls online in a Yahoo! checkers room and that he had asked them to send "regular and pornographic" pictures of themselves to him and they did. Saavedra admitted that on or about Sept. 26, 2006, he possessed a computer containing approximately 1,000 images and movies of child pornography.

Hernandez, 24, of La Marque, also pleaded guilty May 15, 2008. He was charged with possessing a computer that contained 2,044 images and 153 movies of child pornography, including pictures of babies and toddlers being sexually assaulted. A Texas Attorney General’s Office investigator was working undercover in a chatroom and was approached by someone who directed her to look at a Yahoo! profile that contained child pornography. The investigator saw the child pornography and identified the profile as belonging to Keith Hernandez. A search of Hernandez' computer revealed the presence of disturbing images and movies of young children being victimized sexually and physically.

Both men face a maximum 20-year term of imprisonment, a $250,000 fine.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to be friends with this guy. I can't believe it took so long for the feds to catch up to him. I reported him to the FBI in 2002 when our friendship ended abruptly upon my discovering what a sick individual and a liar he was all along.

Anonymous said...

Interesting, I knew him too. Thought I knew him pretty well but I guess not. Just thought about how he's going to get out soon, which brought me across this. Wish this comment was associated with an account so I could talk with you. Looks like I'm 8 years late though.