Lakeland Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography

Tampa, FL – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Benjamin Cuadrado (40, Lakeland) has pleaded guilty to producing and transporting child pornography. He faces a maximum penalty of 80 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, between July 2012 and March 2014, Cuadrado persuaded and coerced an infant and a toddler to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing multiple videos of the conduct. He then sent the videos to others over the Internet. The investigation revealed that Cuadrado had produced at least 50 videos depicting the children.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Miami Beach Police Department, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the Lakeland Police Department, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer L. Peresie.

This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.