Luis Rivera, Child Pornography, Maryland 2023

A Cecil County drug dealer has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for producing child pornography.

Luis Rivera, 34, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III, in Baltimore, Maryland, to 20 years in federal prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release, for production of child pornography.

Rivera was ordered to serve the federal sentence consecutive to the 12-year state sentence he is currently serving for a state drug conviction.

The federal sentence also includes a requirement for Rivera to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”).

According to his guilty plea, Rivera was arrested on drug charges in Cecil County, Maryland on January 30, 2018.

At the time of his arrest, Rivera was found in bed with Jane Doe, who was 15 years old. Rivera denied having a sexual relationship with Jane Doe and stated that all of the illegal narcotics, later confirmed to be crack cocaine, powder cocaine, and heroin, located in his bedroom belonged to Jane Doe.

While at the hospital for a Sexual Assault Forensic Examination, Jane Doe told a social worker that she and Rivera were in a sexual relationship and evidence proving that would be present on their cell phones which were seized during the search warrant at Rivera’s house.

A search warrant was subsequently executed on the digital items seized, including the two cell phones. The SD cards of the phones were forensically examined and found to contain 18 videos of Rivera and Jane Doe engaged in sexually explicit conduct, which were all taken by Rivera or by Jane Doe at Rivera’s direction.

After his arrest and detention, Rivera admitted that he made over 700 calls to Jane Doe saying things like: She was the reason he was locked up; everyone knew that Rivera was arrested because Jane Doe lied and that everything was her fault.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/cecil-county-drug-dealer-sentenced-20-years-federal-prison-production-child-pornography