A California man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for running child porn chats.
Abel Garcia-DeLeon pleaded guilty to child pornography-related charges on June 9. DeLeon was involved in receiving and facilitating the distribution of child pornography in online chat rooms. He said he used the social media app Kik to share child pornography in a group chat.
He and one other co-defendant admitted to setting up a two-step verification system for anyone wanting to join the group chat. First is to send three videos of child sex abuse, then second, to send three more videos with minors under ten years old.
According to the Department of Justice, Garcia-DeLeon’s group chat had at least ten active members from May 8 to May 20, 2022.
Garcia-DeLeon admitted in his plea agreement that he distributed images of minors, had over 600 images of child sex abuse, and previously handled other child pornography group chats.
In addition to his 10-year prison sentence, Judge Gonzalez Rogers sentenced Garcia-DeLeon to 10 years of supervised release.
