An Amarillo man was handed a substantial 25-year sentence after pleading guilty to the production of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas announced yesterday. Willie Gonzales, a 46-year-old, was caught posing as a 14-year-old boy on Snapchat to entice a child into sending him explicit images. This appalling deception led to his indictment last December and his plea this April, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The investigation into Gonzales' activities, spurred by a tip-off from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, led Homeland Security Investigations and the Texas Department of Public Safety to execute a search warrant at his residence. It was there that they discovered an iPhone with sexually explicit materials of an underage girl. In the fall of 2022, Homeland Security Investigations and the Texas Department of Public Safety "conducted a search warrant at Mr. Gonzales’ home, where they found an iPhone containing sexually explicit images of a 10-year-old girl", the U.S. Department of Justice reported. The forensic examination of the device revealed that Gonzales had persuaded the child to send photos and videos of herself.
U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk sentenced Gonzales to 300 months of imprisonment followed by a lifetime of supervised release. During the sentencing, Judge Kacsmaryk highlighted the calculated manner in which Gonzales misrepresented himself on social media to victimize the young girl. Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Frausto was the persecutor on the case, working diligently to ensure that Gonzales would face the consequences of his actions.
