U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar sentenced Erik Antonio Contreras, 35, of Hayward, to five and a half years in prison Aug. 30 in a federal case involving more than 1,000 files of child sexual abuse material, according to The Mercury News. The sentence followed competing recommendations from prosecutors and the defense.
Case history and court status
Contreras was arrested in Hayward on April 30, 2025, during Operation Restore Justice, a five-day nationwide FBI effort, CBS News reported. The FBI said a search of his devices in October 2023 found more than 1,000 files containing child sexual abuse material. It also said Contreras had expressed a desire in late 2023 to engage in sexual conduct with a 12-year-old girl, according to CBS News.
Court records show that prosecutors filed a one-count information in 2025. The court initially set a $25,000 appearance bond, later raised it to $50,000 in June 2025 and added drug and alcohol testing to the release conditions, according to records reviewed by PacerMonitor.
Arguments at sentencing
At sentencing, prosecutors described online communications in which Contreras discussed a fictitious 12-year-old with an undercover agent, The Mercury News reported. Prosecutors also alleged that he claimed to have abused a teenage girl and sent the agent an explicit image. Those allegations were part of the government's account of the conduct underlying its sentencing recommendation.
Contreras's defense cited alcohol abuse and pornography shown to him by a family member during childhood. In a letter to the court, he expressed remorse, acknowledged addiction and denial, and said he hoped eventually to live productively, according to The Mercury News.
Federal prosecutors sought a six-and-a-half-year sentence, while Contreras's lawyer requested three and a half years. Tigar imposed five and a half years. Contreras had been released while the case was pending and must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by Dec. 4, according to The Mercury News.
Broader enforcement and sentencing context
According to the California Department of Justice, its Cybercrime Section investigates and prosecutes technology-related crimes in California, including cyber-exploitation, and supports five regional high-tech task forces. Nationally, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that the average sentence for individuals sentenced for child pornography was 118 months in its fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2025 data. That figure is a national statistic and does not determine the sentence in any individual case.
