Honduran National Is Sentenced To 30 Years For Producing Child Pornography

 CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Oscar Hernandez Maldonado, 48, a Honduran national residing in Charlotte, was sentenced today to 30 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for producing child pornography, announced William T. Stetzer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. also ordered Maldonado to register as a sex offender after his term of incarceration.

Ronnie Martinez, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Charlotte and Chief Johnny Jennings of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department join Acting U.S. Attorney Stetzer in making today’s announcement.

Maldonado was charged via a criminal bill of information with inducing, enticing and coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing images of the sexual abuse. According to today’s sentencing hearing and documents filed with the Court, beginning in or about 2008, Maldonado sexually abused five minor victims, four females and one male, at various times and on multiple occasions over an eight-year period. A forensic analysis by HSI of Maldonado’s seized electronic devices revealed that Maldonado produced images depicting the sexual abuse of the minors and attempted to erase those images. In December 2019, Maldonado pleaded guilty to production of child pornography.

Maldonado is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.    

In making today’s announcement, Acting U.S. Attorney Stetzer thanked HSI for their outstanding investigation of the case and commended CMPD for their invaluable assistance. 

Assistant United States Attorney Alfredo De La Rosa of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case. 

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.