⏱ 2 min read
Yoandris Jose Ruiz Bello, a 32-year-old Venezuelan national, tried to coax a 13-year-old girl into creating explicit videos and sending them to him in Ocala, Florida. On August 21, 2024, Ruiz Bello engaged in a sexually explicit conversation with an undercover Homeland Security Investigations special agent, who was posing as the minor. During the conversation, Ruiz Bello asked the ‘girl’ to create a sexually explicit video of herself and send it to him, and also sent an explicit photograph of male genitalia to the ‘minor’.
Ruiz Bello now faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison for the attempted production offense, and a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment for the attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor offense.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations with assistance from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Janette Swartzberg as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Ruiz Bello’s guilty plea is a significant victory for Project Safe Childhood, which aims to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.
📋 Key Facts
- Crime: Sex Crimes
- Defendant: Florida
- Location: US
- Source: DOJ Press Release
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