A 45-year-old Katy man has been sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for distributing child pornography, with a federal judge also ordering 10 years of supervised release once he completes his sentence. Manuel Candia-Reuter admitted to sharing explicit images of children with another user over Skype, capping a case that stretched back more than three years before sentencing.
Candia-Reuter pleaded guilty on June 9, 2021, according to click2houston.com. He was ordered to serve 180 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release. At the time of the new offense, he had been serving a deferred sentence for a previous possession of child pornography charge, the station reported.
How the Investigation Unfolded
The case traces back to March 2019, when authorities began investigating Candia-Reuter after discovering he had uploaded or distributed child pornography through Skype, per the same account. Law enforcement then executed a search warrant at his residence on July 12, 2019, during which he admitted to distributing the images to another Skype user.
The investigation focused on Candia-Reuter's distribution of child pornography. Federal distribution cases like this one fall under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A, according to the United States Code.
Related Cases
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Texas have pursued a string of similar cases in recent months. A 29-year-old Penitas resident was ordered to federal prison for receiving and distributing child pornography, according to a release from the FBI. In a separate case, a woman was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting a toddler, according to a release from ICE.
