A 34-year-old Nashua man is being held without bail after federal prosecutors charged him with producing child sex abuse material, following a tip that led local detectives to explicit images and incriminating messages on his phone. Diego Gonzalez was arrested by the FBI in Nashua on October 8 and made his initial appearance in federal court in Concord the same day, where he was ordered detained pending trial.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Hampshire announced the single felony count of production of child sex abuse materials, according to the Lowell Sun. Interim U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan, who announced the charges, was appointed to lead the New Hampshire office by Attorney General Pamela Bondi in August 2025 after serving as general counsel for the New Hampshire Judicial Branch, according to the Department of Justice. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher R. Mignanelli and Matthew Vicinanzo are prosecuting the case.
A Tip, a Seized Phone, and a Search Warrant
The investigation began in September when a Nashua police detective responded to Gonzalez's home after a tip alleging he had taken sexual photos of a minor and distributed them to others online, per the affidavit cited by the Lowell Sun. The detective, assigned to the department's Cybercrimes Against Children Unit, also serves as a task force officer with the FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. That dual role reflects a broader structure: the Nashua Police Department operates a dedicated Cyber Crimes Against Children Unit and Computer Forensic Unit that works alongside the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force on digital evidence analysis, according to a post from Infonh.
When officers arrived, Gonzalez refused consent to search his phone, so they seized the device pending a search-warrant application, per the affidavit. Once the warrant was secured, a digital forensic examiner located journal entries in the phone's notes application. In one entry, Gonzalez allegedly wrote that he argued with himself about bad things he had done, including talking to people about children, according to the affidavit as reported by the Lowell Sun.
Messages From December 2024 Cited in Affidavit
Investigators also allege Gonzalez exchanged text messages with another man about child sex abuse material in December 2024. In one exchange, the other man told Gonzalez, “My best friend. We both got that dark corner of the brain.” Gonzalez allegedly responded that pictures and videos get old and said he wanted the real thing, to which the other man replied, “The real things just safer I feel like lol.” The affidavit states the conversation displayed the men's shared interest in child sex abuse material and sexual fantasies involving children.
Investigators did not locate folders containing children's names as described in the initial tip, the affidavit notes. They did, however, find several photographs of a prepubescent child on Gonzalez's device, along with conversations that appeared to reference the minor victim and Gonzalez's alleged sharing of images. The minor depicted in the photos has since been identified and interviewed as part of the investigation, per the affidavit.
Facing a Mandatory 15-Year Minimum
Production of child sex abuse materials under federal law carries a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison. The Department of Justice notes that the charge carries a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years for a first-time offense, under 18 U.S.C. § 2251. A conviction would also carry mandatory post-imprisonment supervised release ranging from five years to life, along with mandatory sex offender registration, according to Hartwig Law, LLC.
Gonzalez's attorney, Eric Wolpin, was not immediately available for comment, the Lowell Sun reported. The case is being brought under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat child exploitation and rescue victims, operating under the joint leadership of U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the DOJ's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, a specialized unit established in 1987.
Part of a Broader Enforcement Push
The FBI's Boston Division, which led the arrest in Nashua, holds federal jurisdiction over violent crime and child exploitation investigations across New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island, per a Facebook post from FBI Boston. That regional footprint matters given the scale of the problem nationally: the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received 21.3 million reports through its CyberTipline in 2025 and escalated more than 53,000 urgent tips directly to law enforcement involving children believed to be in imminent danger, according to NCMEC.
Federal reporting requirements for tech platforms expanded under the REPORT Act, enacted in May 2024, which broadened mandatory reporting to include online enticement and child sex trafficking while requiring platforms to preserve CyberTipline records for at least one year, per the office of Sen. Marsha Blackburn. The case follows a similar arrest in neighboring Hudson in March, when a 25-year-old man was taken into custody on child sexual abuse material charges after a CyberTipline report led to a search warrant and forensic review of his devices, as Hoodline reported at the time. It remains unclear whether digital forensic analysis will yield further evidence regarding the second man involved in the alleged December 2024 messages, and no formal trial schedule in Concord federal court has been announced.
