Río Grande Man Sentenced To 17 Years In Prison For Production Of Child Pornography

 SAN JUAN, P.R. – United States District Court Chief Judge Gustavo A. Gelpí sentenced Enrique Sánchez Hernández to 210 months (17 years and six months) in prison followed by a supervised release term of 30 years for Production of Child Pornography, announced W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.

On November 20, 2019, Sánchez Hernández pleaded guilty to the sole count in the indictment, one count of Production of Child Pornography. According to the government’s evidence, Sánchez Hernández had made a recording of his sexual abuse of an 8 year-old minor, utilizing his cellular phone. A civilian discovered the recording in June of 2018, when the abandoned phone was found in Río Grande, Puerto Rico. Police of Puerto Rico referred the case to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents, who were able to identify Mr. Sánchez Hernández from the video and arrested him shortly thereafter.

 “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico will continue to protect and defend our children from those who seek to prey upon them and steal their innocence,” said U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute these crimes, using all available resources to ensure that additional vulnerable victims aren’t abused.” 

Project Safe Childhood is an initiative of the Department of Justice aimed at preventing the abuse and exploitation of children by the use of digital cameras, computers and other digital and electronic media.

The Department of Homeland Security was in charge of the investigation of the case and the criminal prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas W. Cannon.