Laredo man sentenced to 20 years in prison for possession of child pornography involving minor relative

A Laredo man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges of receiving and possessing child pornography, according to a report from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Texas. David de los Santos, 33, faced charges that explicitly involved graphic images of children, including a minor relative who was as young as 2 years old.

Sentencing was decided by U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana, who opted for the maximum possible sentence given the deeply disturbing nature of the crime. De los Santos was also ordered to pay $84,304 in restitution to identified victims. After serving his sentence, he will be on supervised release for five years, with strict restrictions on his access to children and the internet. He will also be required to register as a sex offender. His arrest and subsequent legal consequences stem from an investigation that began when authorities linked an IP address to De los Santos and discovered he had uploaded child pornography online, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Using a search warrant, law enforcement officers entered the Los Santos residence on July 1, 2021, where they found multiple electronic devices containing a cache of illegal content; including 1,038 images and 393 videos of sexual abuse of infants and toddlers, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Texas. The convicted man is currently in custody and awaiting transfer to a federal prison, details of which will be announced soon.

The case against De los Santos was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a Department of Justice initiative aimed at addressing the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Homeland Security Investigations led the investigation along with the Laredo Police Department as part of the Child Exploitation Task Force, a team that also included representatives from the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the United Independent School District Police. For more information about PSC and online safety education, visit the Department of Justice’s dedicated pages.

“A parent’s worst nightmare is to discover that someone you trusted with your family, like a relative, was actually taking advantage of your child’s innocence,” U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani said in remarks released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Makens prosecuted the case.