RI Man Admits He Sexually Exploited Girl Under 4 for Pornography, Faces Up to 80 Years

RI Man Admits He Sexually Exploited Girl Under 4 for Pornography, Faces Up to 80 Years

A Central Falls man on Monday admitted in federal court that he used a young child under the age of four for the purpose of producing sexually explicit videos. He is facing up to 80 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in September, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Appearing Monday before U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith, Jose Cortes pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of possession of child pornography.

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Cortes, 40, admitted to the court that on at least two dates between December 2013 and December 2015, he used a female child who was between approximately 2.5 to 3.5 years old to take part in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct. The sexually explicit images included graphic images of and sexual contact with the child, and of a male’s genitalia next to the child’s head.  Cortes admitted that he stored and shared the images on several electronic devices in his control. 

According to the U.S. Attorney's office, the investigation was led by the Central Falls Police Department, with the assistance of the Rhode Island State Police and Homeland Security Investigations, and the investigation included a forensic audit of some of the electronic devices seized from Cortes. Several thousand images and videos of child pornography were discovered.

Cortes is scheduled to be sentenced on September 18, 2020. Each count of sexual exploitation of a child is punishable by between 15 and 30 years in federal prison. Possession of child pornography is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.