A man in New York was sentenced to 235 months in jail on Thursday, 21 April, for luring and transporting a minor across state lines to engage her in sexual activities and receiving pictures of child sexual abuse from another minor.
The 37-year-old Richard Gabriel Piedra Ordonez of Queens, New York, earlier said that he was guilty through a videoconference in front of U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman to a three-count statement charging him with one count of force and enticement of a minor; one count of transporting a minor to engage her in illegal sexual activity; and one count of receiving minor pornography.
Judge Hillman sentenced the punishment in Camden federal court.
As per the documents filed in this case and the statements made in the court during the hearing, in April 2019, Piedra started communicating with a resident of New Jersey who was under the age of 16 through Snapchat and other social sites. Piedra knew about the minor’s age and told her that he was 19 while actually, he was 35 years old.
A few months later, Piedra met with the victim in person, and they both engaged in sexual activity. Multiple times, Piedra travelled to New Jersey to engage in sexual activity with the victim, and he even drove her to his home in New York City for the same.
Federal law enforcement officers carried out a search warrant on Piedra’s house in December 2019, and there they found videos and images of minors on a hard drive kept in his bedroom.
Further investigation also disclosed that, in 2017, Piedra had talked with an Indiana resident who was under the age of 15 using different social media platforms. Piedra asked and received sexually expressive images and videos from the Indiana victim.
Judge Hillman sentenced Piedra to 10 years of supervised release and ordered him to record as a sex criminal along with the prison tenure.
