Edward Sanchez, Child Exploitation, Texas 2021

A 59-year-old Corpus Christi man has been ordered to serve the rest of his life in federal prison following convictions for several child exploitation offenses, including foreign travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with three minors.

Edward Sanchez was convicted by a federal jury on July 26, 2021, following a week-long trial and approximately 10 hours of deliberation.

U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos handed down the life sentence. Sanchez will also be ordered to register as a sex offender. At the hearing, the court heard evidence of his attempts to solicit and coerce additional schoolmates of the victims as well as testimony from a mental health professional regarding the effects of his actions.

In imposing the sentence, Judge Ramos noted Sanchez’s complete lack of remorse for his actions.

At trial, evidence showed Sanchez had traveled to the Philippines where he posed as a benefactor to a school. However, he ultimately sought sexual relationships with students. The jury heard from three minor victims who testified about his activities, which included requests for pornographic images. These were later used to extort the children into meeting for sexual encounters, some unprotected, in the Philippines. Sanchez often provided victims with “morning after pills” to prevent conception.

The jury also heard about and viewed social media messages detailing Sanchez’s attempts to arrange access to the child victim’s family members to another adult male for sex. During their deliberations, the jury poured through thousands of pages of social media messages detailing his exploitation of the victims.

Sanchez has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Corpus Christi Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brittany L. Jensen and Dennis Robinson prosecuted the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Sanchez has been convicted of:

Foreign travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with three minors

City: Corpus Christi, State: Texas

Date: November 21, 2018

Sentence: Life in prison

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