Michael Ray Sepulveda, Child Exploitation and Child Pornography, New Mexico 2016

Defendant Pleads Guilty to Child Exploitation and Child Pornography Charges

Michael Ray Sepulveda, 38, of Silver City, New Mexico, pleaded guilty to federal child exploitation and child pornography charges in a Las Cruces, New Mexico, court. The plea agreement recommends a sentence of 20 to 25 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

Sepulveda will be required to continue to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence. The defendant was arrested on October 28, 2016, on a criminal complaint alleging that he enticed a child to engage in sexual activity and to produce child pornography, which was transmitted in interstate commerce.

According to the criminal complaint, Sepulveda used an online social networking website to engage in sexually explicit communications with an underage minor between July 2015 and November 2015. He sent sexually explicit photographs to the victim and persuaded the victim to send him sexually explicit photographs of the victim.

Sepulveda also attempted unsuccessfully to meet with the victim for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity. During today’s proceedings, Sepulveda pled guilty to a felony information charging him with child exploitation and receipt of child pornography.

In entering the guilty plea, Sepulveda admitted that between July 29, 2015, and November 15, 2015, he attempted to persuade the victim, a minor, to produce pornographic images of the victim and attempted to meet the victim to engage in sexual activity through a social media website.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Sepulveda will be prohibited from using or accessing the social media website he used to facilitate his criminal activity. He will also be required to pay $15,000 in restitution to the victims of his crimes. Sepulveda remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

The case was investigated by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and the Las Cruces offices of the FBI and HSI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Segovia of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office is prosecuting the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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