WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A 29-year-old Mexican national who has been living in South Florida and who prosecutors say pretended to be a 9-year-old girl during online chats to solicit minors for sexually explicit material has pleaded guilty to committing child exploitation crimes and being in the United States illegally following deportation.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Andres Rivera Reyes, who has lived both in Boca Raton and Pompano Beach, appeared Thursday in federal district court in West Palm Beach.
Prosecutors said Rivera Reyes confessed to posing as a child on social media for the past two years to obtain videos from girls as young as 8.
Rivera Reyes is accused of using social media platforms to share and receive “child sexual abuse material” and keeping videos on his cellphone of children under 12 engaged in sexually explicit acts.
Prosecutors said Rivera Reyes also admitted that he is in the U.S. illegally and had previously been deported twice.
Rivera Reyes pleaded guilty to one count of attempted production of child pornography, two counts of receipt of child pornography, one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg on Oct. 20 and faces up to 112 years in prison.