A South Texas man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to receiving child pornography, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas. Servando Diaz, a 32-year-old from Edcouch, admitted on March 19 to downloading a disturbing array of child pornography to his personal devices, a habit he maintained both online and offline, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

The sentencing, handed down by U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, also compels Diaz to pay a special assessment fee of $5,000 and subjects him to 10 years of supervised release, during which he must meet several conditions to limit his contact with children and use of the internet after he admitted to authorities his decade-long involvement in child exploitation activities; Diaz also faces the requirement to register as a sex offender.

Diaz's activities were uncovered during an investigation into a commercial sexual exploitation ring that sold child pornography in exchange for cryptocurrency. Law enforcement traced a transaction to Diaz after agents found him purchasing illicit content using cryptocurrency and later confirming his deposit address utilizing an open-source database, revealing his involvement with the ring through a file hosting service known as MEGA.

Upon his arrest on August 15, 2023, Diaz cooperated with officials, revealing the extent of his exploitation consumption which began nearly ten years ago, this included a confession that he used platforms like Telegram and MEGA to make his purchases; he also disclosed payments made via PayPal amounting to approximately $50-150 to access private groups on platforms like Discord or Telegram known for distributing child pornography. The FBI’s subsequent forensic analysis of Diaz's devices uncovered a trove of obscene materials, numbering 360 videos and 178 images depicting severe forms of abuse.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the proliferation of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC brings together a comprehensive network of federal, state, and local partners to aggressively pursue offenders and support victims. For further details on PSC and internet safety education, the DOJ's PSC page offers additional resources.