Sex Videos With Victims Younger Than 3 Lead To Charges Filed

Bowie MD

02 November, 2021

12:11 PM

Description

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A 55-year-old New Carrollton man faces federal charges for the production of child pornography involving two victims younger than age 3. Eladio Alfaro Sarmiento was arrested Aug. 11 on state charges filed in Prince George's County related to child pornography and rape and has been detained since his arrest. According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, on Aug. 9, 2021, the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received five cyber-tipline referrals from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The referrals were generated when a representative from an Internet search engine discovered child pornography within a photo storage account for a user. The referrals requested expedited processing because of potential "hands-on abuse." As detailed in the criminal complaint, the cyber-tip contained information about a specific video file believed to contain child sex abuse material that was likely created by Sarmiento. The tip also noted metadata related to the location where the video was filmed, which roughly matches Sarmiento's address. The cyber-tips contain about 44 video files uploaded between June and August 2021, from two email accounts connected to Sarmiento, investigators said. According to the affidavit, the videos document the sexual abuse of prepubescent minors, including Victim 1 and Victim 2, who are both younger than 3 years old. An investigation of the photos section of one of the email addresses believed to be used by Sarmiento revealed hundreds of images and videos depicting child sex abuse material. On Aug. 11, 2021, authorities executed a search warrant at Sarmiento's residence and recovered five cellular phones, as well as clothing worn by the two victims in videos that were part of the cyber-tips. A forensic analysis of the contents of one of the cell phones believed to belong to Sarmiento revealed several images that appear to be "still" images from the videos depicting the sexual abuse of Victim 1 and Victim 2. The affidavit alleges there were several other images located on the cell phone showing ownership attributions such as an image of a COVID-19 vaccination card in the name of Eladio Alfaro, selfies depicting Sarmiento, as well as a Social Security card in his name. If convicted, Sarmiento faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for the production of child pornography.