A Mexican national illegally in the United States has been sentenced in federal court for soliciting pornographic images and videos from an 11-year-old victim over Facebook Messenger.
Alejandrino Velazquez-Hernandez, 34, of Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Tuesday, Aug. 16, to 17 years and six months in federal prison without parole. Velazquez-Hernandez had been ordered removed from the United States on Nov. 19, 2013, after failing to appear for his immigration hearing.
On Feb. 8, 2022, Velazquez-Hernandez pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of a child. Velazquez-Hernandez admitted that he used an 11-year-old child, identified in court documents as “Jane Doe,” to produce child pornography in Greene County, Mo., from Oct. 1, 2020, through April 1, 2021.
Velazquez-Hernandez communicated with the child victim on the Facebook Messenger application, through which she sent him pornographic images and videos at his request. They made several plans to meet but could never be alone.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Wan. It was investigated by the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration, and Customs Enforcement, and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department.
