United States of America v. Victor Torres

Dallas, Texas, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with two counts of production of child pornography.

In 2023, Victor Torres paid two different 13-to-14-year-old children to produce sexually explicit material to send to him online. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) discovered Torres’s criminal activity when they received a CyberTip from an online money exchange platform. From the CyberTip, they were able to locate multiple different accounts used by Torres to communicate with minors online. Torres was 30 years old at the time of the communications but frequently told minors that he was 17 years old. Torres told the minors that he would “pay for content” and described exactly what he wanted the minors to do in the sexually explicit photos and videos he requested, including how to pose and what objects to use.

Court records show that, in June 2024, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Torres’s residence and seized several electronic devices. Evidence located on Torres’s electronic devices revealed search terms for child pornography, communications with minors and bartering for the production of child pornography, and additional child sexual abuse material including material depicting the sexual abuse of toddlers, animals, and other prepubescent children.

Homeland Security Investigations, Dallas Field Office (Amarillo Resident Agency) conducted the investigation along with HSI Harrisonburg, VA; HSI Buffalo, NY; HSI Columbia, SC; HSI Charleston, SC; the Moore County Sheriff’s Office, the Amarillo Police Department, the Pittsburg, OK Sheriff’s Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Callie Woolam prosecuted the case.

The Justice Department is committed to combating child sexual exploitation and brought this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc. The Department partners with and oversees funding grants for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which receives and shares tips about possible child sexual exploitation received through its 24/7 hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST and on missingkids.org

The Defendant was sentenced to 60 years in prison.