Daniel Berrones (Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Texas)
KATY, Texas - A 27-year-old Texas man has been sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material, federal prosecutors announced.
Texas man sentenced to federal prison
What we know:
Daniel Berrones was ordered by U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks to serve 136 months in federal prison following his Aug. 27 guilty plea. During the sentencing hearing, the court heard testimony detailing how Berrones used online chat rooms exclusively to share child sexual abuse material, including media involving toddlers.
In addition to his prison sentence, Berrones was ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution to known victims and will serve five years of supervised release after completing his term. His release conditions include strict restrictions on his access to children and the internet, as well as a requirement to register as a sex offender.
The backstory:
The federal investigation began Feb. 7, 2020, when authorities detected child sexual abuse material being shared on the cloud storage platform Mega. Investigators traced the activity to a blog providing access to the illicit content and identified an email account belonging to Berrones that was actively distributing the media within a chat group.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Berrones' home, seizing electronic devices containing approximately 22 videos and 167 images of child sexual abuse material. Berrones admitted to accessing links from the instant messaging platform Discord and using the internet to store and distribute the files.
What's next:
Berrones remains in federal custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.
The Source: Information in this article is from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Texas.