ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Ismael Valdez, 38, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, was sentenced on July 19 in federal court to 12 years in prison for attempted coercion and enticement.
Valdez pleaded guilty to these charges on Aug. 27, 2020. According to his plea agreement, between April 29, 2020, and May 29, 2020, Valdez met and messaged an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a 13-year-old girl on a social networking application. During the conversations, Valdez sent sexually explicit material to the “the child” and asked her to send sexually explicit material to him. Valdez arranged to meet with the child to have sex and traveled from his home in Las Cruces to a meeting location where law enforcement agents arrested him.
Upon completion of his prison sentence, Valdez will be subject to 10 years of supervised release.
The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matilda McCarthy Villalobos and Mark Saltman prosecuted the case.
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