Colorado Man Convicted in Maryland Over Mexico Child Abuse

A federal jury in Baltimore convicted 32-year-old Alekzander Quinn Bywater, a former Colorado Springs resident, of sexually abusing a child while living in Veracruz, Mexico, and then advertising videos of the abuse for sale over the dark web. Bywater now faces up to 150 years in federal prison, though the actual sentence will be calculated separately under federal guidelines.

According to the Department of Justice, Bywater was found guilty of conspiracy to produce visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct outside the United States, sexual exploitation of a minor, distribution of child sexual abuse material, and advertising child sexual abuse material. As reported by WBFF, Bywater agreed to create two videos in January 2024 showing him and his wife, Anika Bywater, abusing a minor victim.

Court filings described one video in which the prepubescent victim tried to crawl away before being apprehended by Anika Bywater, according to the Justice Department. The couple created the videos while living in Veracruz, per court documents cited by the same account, and the abuse occurred while they were both in Mexico.

How an Undercover Maryland Purchase Cracked the Case

Federal jurisdiction landed in Maryland because an undercover FBI agent operating in the state purchased and downloaded the videos online in early February 2024, the WBFF report notes, though the outlet cites both February 6 and February 7, 2024 for that download in different parts of its account. FBI agents later recovered both videos from a desktop computer and a laptop, which also contained another video of Bywater sexually abusing the same child, per the same outlet's reporting. Investigators found thousands of additional images and videos on those devices depicting the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, the station reported.

The videos were circulated on the internet and one was advertised for sale online beginning in January 2024, per the press release cited by WBFF. A. Tysen Duva said Bywater and his wife perpetrated the crime together and tried to profit from it, and separately said Bywater left the United States for Mexico and preyed upon a young child, according to the station's report.

Co-Defendant Wife Already Sentenced to 25 Years

Anika Bywater, 29, pleaded guilty in December 2025 to conspiracy to engage in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places. U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson sentenced her on March 20, 2026, to 25 years in federal prison followed by 20 years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland. Federal court records reviewed by PacerMonitor show Anika Bywater's arrest warrant was returned executed on February 17, 2024, and a grand jury in the District of Maryland returned a multi-count indictment against both spouses on March 6, 2024.

Kelly O. Hayes said the guilty verdict holds Bywater accountable for abusing a child and distributing videos documenting the abuse, and added that Bywater will be separated from society where he cannot harm other children, per WBFF's reporting.

Cross-Border Investigation Spanned Multiple Agencies

The international investigation required coordination between the FBI's Child Exploitation Operational Unit, the FBI Washington Field Office, and the FBI's law enforcement attaché office in Mexico City, according to the Justice Department. The case was prosecuted jointly by Assistant U.S. Attorney Reema Sood of the District of Maryland and Acting Deputy Chief Kyle P. Reynolds of the Justice Department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

Under federal criminal procedure, statutory maximums like the 150 years Bywater faces reflect a legal ceiling rather than an automatic term; a federal district judge will calculate his final sentence based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutory factors under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), per the Justice Department. A formal sentencing date for Bywater has not yet been set.

Part of a Broader Federal Crackdown

The prosecution was brought under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 to combine federal, state, and local resources to combat internet child exploitation and rescue victims. In Maryland, that effort is backed by the FBI's Innocent Images program based in Baltimore and the multi-agency Maryland Child Exploitation Task Force established in 2010, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.

The case follows a broader wave of federal enforcement in this area. A nationwide FBI-led effort called Operation Restore Justice resulted in 205 child sex abuse offenders arrested in May 2025, including two suspects in the District of Maryland, per the Justice Department.