A former high-ranking Army officer will spend the next three and a half years behind bars, after being sentenced for possessing sickening child pornography. Edgar Ali Cerda, a 49-year-old former lieutenant colonel from Cooper City, was given 42 months in federal prison followed by 15 years supervised release, authorities said on Tuesday.
Law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at Cerda's home on March 10, 2021, uncovering a trove of images and videos, some depicting children under 12 years of age and one victim as young as two. According to the statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Cerda, who was home during the raid did not only possess the illegal content but also shared it in a group chat.
The case was handled by several law enforcement agencies including the FBI's Miami Field Office, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, and Homeland Security Investigations. U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri, were among the officials announcing the sentence which was imposed by U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ajay J. Alexander, who prosecuted the case, has been part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a nationwide crackdown focusing on the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, the project aligns federal, state, and locals in the mission to identify, and arrest Internet predators and to rescue the victims they exploit. For more information, the Department of Justice encourages visits to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
