A local man has pleaded guilty to charges of coercing two children into sending sexually explicit photos of themselves and threatening to expose them if they refused to continue, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Joseph Daniel Saucedo, of Vista, allegedly posed as a teenage girl through the messaging app KIK using the name “Amy Jennings."
While posing as Amy, at first Saucedo would have normal conversations about everyday life with an 11-year-old Canadian boy. Later, Saucedo sent naked pictures of young girls and asked the boy to communicate with her older male friend as an exchange.
Once the boy refused, Saucedo sent him a photograph of his house, told the victim he knew where he lived and threatened to shame him.
The victim was then contacted by the male friend of the suspect multiple times using FaceTime. He also received sexually explicit images of that man in messages.
In January, 2016, Saucedo contacted the victim again as “Amy” and threatened to release an inappropriate video online.
After an investigation into Saucedo’s online accounts that police had linked to child pornography, they also found evidence linking him to a similar case in Florida.
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Saucedo had posed as a modeling agent to a 16-year old girl online through Instagram and made similar demands, according the indictment.
He posed as a modeling agency looking for "bikini and nude models" and claimed, "obviously the pay is great."
When the girl refused Saucedo's overtures, he posed as "Amy Jennings" again and threatened to blackmail the girl. This caused the victim to turn to Saucedo for help with "Amy." He demanded nude photos in exchange.
If his victim failed to meet his demands, "Amy" would publish the inappropriate photos. Saucedo continued to harass the girl for photos for almost a year, from August 2015 to June 2016.
According to the federal court complaint, 130 images and 66 videos were found on Saucedo's KIK account. Most of them contained child pornography.
“As parents we need to be aggressively monitor what our children are doing online, and as prosecutors, we will aggressively go after predators who are coercing, extorting and harming our kids,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.
Saucedo was charged with production, attempted production and receipt of photographs of minors.
If convicted on all charges, he could face up to 25 years in prison.
His sentencing is set for Aug. 25, 2008 at 9 a.m.
Potential victims are asked to call Polly Montano, Victim-Witness Coordinator at (619)546-8921, Duffy stated.
