A Floresville man who was behind several social media accounts that traded child pornography, has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"I'm just really sorry. I'm sorry to the victims," Fabian Perez said in court Thursday.
Perez, 20, could have faced more than 100 years in prison, but as part of a plea deal, instead admitted to one count of the sexual exploitation of minors.
The investigation, which started when he was 18 years old, began in Germany. The law enforcement there were able to intercept an IP address that was traced to his family's home, according to court papers.
When the FBI came knocking, Perez tried to destroy evidence.
"He kept a hammer in his room and when law enforcement came to enforce the search warrant, he destroyed a hard drive that we have not be able to examine," Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Thompson said in court.
Court papers said he did it "because he knew (the hard drive) contained a large amount of child pornography images and videos."
Thompson tells News Radio 1200 WOAI that Perez cashed in on his boyish looks to convince teenagers to send him nude photos, which were then traded with other collectors of child pornography.
"And these teenagers that took the pictures for him had no idea that they wound end up all over the world," she said.
When Perez gets out of jail, he'll spend the next 30 years on supervised release.