Oakland man sentenced to 10 years for running child porn chats
OAKLAND -- An Oakland man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for receiving and facilitating the distribution of child pornography in online chat rooms, the Department of Justice announced Friday.
Abel Garcia-DeLeon pleaded guilty to child pornography-related charges on June 9.
In his plea agreement, Garcia-DeLeon said he used the social media app Kik to share child pornography in a group chat. He and a co-defendant admitted to setting up a two-step verification system with a "Rage Bot," where anyone wanting to join the group chat would have to send three videos of child sex abuse, then three additional videos featuring minors under ten years old.
From May 8 to May 20, 2022, Garcia-DeLeon's group chat had at least ten active members, said the Department of Justice.
Additionally, Garcia-DeLeon said in his plea agreement that he distributed images of minors, possessed over 600 images of child sex abuse and previously administered several other child pornography group chats.
Along with his 10-year prison sentence, Judge Gonzalez Rogers sentenced Garcia-DeLeon to 10 years of supervised release. He was immediately remanded into custody following the trial.