LUBBOCK, TX
A federal judge sentenced Amadeo Cruz Torres, 24, of Lubbock, Texas, to 15 years in federal prison for luring a teen so he could take sexually explicit photos of the girl, officials announced last week.
Torres met the girl on Facebook, officials said.
Torres has been in custody since last year, officials said. He plead guilty in June 2015 to one count of production of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker.
According to documents filed in the case, Torres met the teenage minor, “Jane Doe,” at South Plains Mall in Lubbock on June 17, 2014, after he had been communicating with her online, via Facebook, about the possibility of modeling.
Torres first represented himself to be a female modeling agent named “Amber.”
The teenage victim’s mother took Jane Doe to the mall to meet the supposed modeling scout.
Jane Doe was advised that she would be meeting with “Shane,” the defendant. Jane Doe was advised to meet with Torres without a parent or friend to minimize distractions, officials said.
After meeting with Jane Doe in the mall’s food court, Torres took her to a family restroom and locked the door. He took a video of her while he instructed her to engage in various poses, authorities said.
Eventually, officials said Torres directed her to disrobe completely so that he could film a nude video. At one point during the “modeling session,” Torres convinced her to let him touch her in a sexually explicit manner to verify that she was not hiding drugs.
Torres was arrested the following day at South Plains Mall where he had gone to meet another minor female. Officers seized his video camera, cell phone and tablet computer.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, officials said.