Antonio Merced, Sexually Exploiting Minors, Massachusetts 2026

A Worcester man has been sentenced for sexually exploiting three minor females.

Antonio Merced, 29, was sentenced on March 26, 2026 by U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman to 30 years in prison to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. This sentence will run consecutive to his state prison sentence.

Merced was arrested in September 2024 and was subsequently indicted in Worcester Superior Court. He was convicted of 10 counts of aggravated rape of a child and sentenced to 25-30 years in state prison.

In July 2025, Merced pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of possession of child pornography. The investigation revealed that Merced had been sexually abusing three minors and producing videos of their sexual abuse.

Documentation of the abuse occurring in 2023 of a six year old child, and videos created in 2024 of two other children being sexually abused by Merced were found during the investigation. At a plea hearing in July 2025, Merced admitted to using the three minors to create sexually explicit videos and to possessing hundreds of photos and videos of child sex abuse material of children unknown to him.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Worcester Police Chief Paul B. Saucier made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Noto of the Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the case.

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