Registered Sex Offender Arrested For Allegedly Possessing Child Porn
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Cyber Crimes Unit arrested El Paso resident Miguel Eduardo Gomez, 34, on federal child pornography possession charges.
In 1994, Gomez was convicted in Virginia for sexually assaulting an eight-year-old male, so he has been registering as a sex offender since 1995. Search for registered sex offenders here.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) referred the case against Gomez to the Texas Attorney General’s Office on Dec. 1. According to BCA investigators, New York resident Anthony William Brooks, 36, had been trading child pornography images online with Gomez since early 2009. Investigators also found e-mails from Gomez to Brooks that coached the New Yorker on how to deceive polygraph exams – and on how to view child pornography without getting caught by his probation officer.
“The defendant – already a registered sex offender – was arrested for possessing child pornography,” Attorney General Abbott said in a news release. “Sexual predators are dangerous criminals who must be monitored closely by law enforcement. We are grateful to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the El Paso Police Department for working with our Cyber Crimes Unit to protect Texas children.”
With assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the El Paso Police Department, law enforcement officers with the Cyber Crimes Unit conducted a search of Gomez’s residence, arrested him and booked him into the El Paso County Jail. According to the search warrant affidavit filed by law enforcement, e-mails from Gomez to Brooks discussed how to share online child pornography without being detected. Both Gomez and Brooks expressed a mutual interest in sexually assaulting children, particularly young males, according to the affidavit.
The search warrant also indicates that Gomez and Brooks exchanged numerous illicit e-mails that depicted young males being sexually assaulted. According to law enforcement, Brooks sent approximately 75 child pornography images to Gomez. Gomez also sent Brooks a link to a Web page he claimed held more than 1,500 images.
Because he is already a registered sex offender, Gomez faces a minimum of 15 years in prison for child pornography possession. New York law enforcement authorities arrested Brooks for child pornography possession.
Attorney General Abbott has earned a national reputation for aggressively arresting and prosecuting online child predators. In 2003, he created the Cyber Crimes Unit, which protects children from online sexual exploitation. The Cyber Crimes Unit and the Fugitive Unit, which locates sex offenders who have violated the terms of their parole, have combined to arrest more than 2,000 sex offenders.
For more information on Attorney General Abbott’s efforts to crack down on sex predators, visit www.texasattorneygeneral.gov or call (800) 252-8011.
