Albuquerque Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Pornography Charge

ALBUQUERQUE – Faviano Lopez, 28, of Albuquerque, N.M., pled guilty this morning to receipt of a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

Lopez was arrested on federal child pornography charges on July 11, 2014, based on a criminal complaint after he was transferred from state custody into federal custody.  According to the criminal complaint, the investigation into Lopez was initiated by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the New Mexico State Police in Nov. 2013, after the New Mexico State Police obtained information indicating that an IP Address subscribed to the residence in which Lopez was living was being used to share video and image files consistent with child pornography.  In Feb. 2014, HSI and the Albuquerque Police Department executed a search warrant at Lopez’s residence where they seized computer and computer-related media containing video and image files consistent with child pornography from Lopez’s bedroom.

During today’s proceedings, Lopez entered a guilty plea to a felony information charging him with receipt of child pornography.  In his plea agreement, Lopez admitted receiving child pornography from May 2013 to Feb. 2014, by downloading images and videos of child pornography using a peer to peer file sharing system.

Lopez has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.  At sentencing, Lopez faces imprisonment for a period not less than five years and not more than 20 years followed by a period of supervised release to be determined by the court.  Lopez will have to register as a sex offender after completing his prison sentence.

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of HSI, the New Mexico State Police and the Albuquerque Police Department, all of which are members of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob A. Wishard.

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

The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico.  There are 74 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the NMAGO.  Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.