McAllen man sentenced to 10 years in prison for child pornography, ordered to pay victim damages

A McAllen man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to possession and distribution of child pornography, according to a recent announcement from U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. Gabriel Alejandro Morales, 27, admitted to using a third-party messaging app on his phone to both receive and distribute illegal content.

U.S. District Judge Crane imposed the sentence, which also includes $3,000 in restitution to a known victim and a subsequent five-year period of supervised release. During that time, Morales’ activities will be strictly monitored, particularly with regard to his access to children and the Internet, and he will be required to register as a sex offender. The Justice Department said there was additional evidence that Morales also distributed child pornography.

Morales’ crimes were first discovered in January 2022 after authorities identified a group chat that involved the sharing of child pornography on an anonymous messaging service. During the investigation, approximately nine videos containing child pornography were linked to Morales’ activities. In total, authorities discovered that Morales was connected to 77 video files containing child abuse material, representing an additional 52 video files and 11 images with similar content, as detailed by the Department of Justice.

The investigation, led by the FBI, revealed that the content Morales shared included the depiction of prepubescent children in sadistic/masochistic settings. The FBI, assisted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cahal P. McColgan and Alexa D. Parcell, conducted the legal proceedings that resulted in the 10-year sentence. This case falls under the purview of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a national initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Internet safety education is also available to the public through the Department of Justice’s PSC page.

Morales is currently in custody and awaiting transfer to a federal prison where he will serve his sentence. Details of the facility and the date of the transfer were not released.