A 33-year-old Mexican national, Orlando Diaz Ramirez, has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for possessing child pornography. The choir teacher, who was living legally in the United States, will face deportation after serving his sentence.
U.S. Chief District Judge Randy Crane handed down the 97-month sentence, which was the result of Ramirez’s guilty plea to one count of possession of child pornography. The teacher admitted to receiving 300 child porn videos on a USB storage device from 22-year-old Israel Flores, who also pleaded guilty and received a 97-month sentence.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, Ramirez had an additional 8 gigabytes of child pornography stored in a Dropbox account. At the time of the offense, he was employed as a middle school choir teacher in South Texas.
The investigation began in 2020 when federal authorities discovered a Dropbox account storing child pornography and tracked the usage to a house in Donna, Texas. In March 2021, Homeland Security Investigations agents raided the house and, during an interview with Ramirez, learned that he had downloaded and stored the child porn files on his Dropbox account. The agents also discovered that he had received a USB drive from Flores, which led them to find additional child porn files at his home.
Homeland Security Investigations RGV Deputy Special Agent in Charge Mark Lippa stated, “With today’s sentencing, HSI has removed a dangerous child predator from the community. Preventing and investigating crimes against children is a high priority for HSI. We will continue to dedicate law enforcement resources to identify and bring to justice child predators who traumatize and victimize children.”
