News Releases

Massachusetts man pleads guilty to child pornography charges
Attempted to travel to Cincinnati to engage a minor

CINCINNATI - A man from Holyoke, Mass., pleaded guilty to receiving, distributing, and possessing child pornography in federal court Tuesday, following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation.

Jose Colon-Bonilla, 21, was arrested without incident in May from his suburban Springfield, Mass., home on the current charges and attempting to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. He is now in federal custody.

U.S. Attorney Carter M. Stewart, Southern District of Ohio, and Brian Moskowitz, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Detroit announced the plea, which was entered before U.S. District Judge Herman J. Weber.

ICE agents executed a federal search warrant at Colon-Bonilla's home in January. During the search, they seized media storage devices and a personal computer belonging to Colon-Bonilla. Forensic examiners found more than 125 images and 33 movies of child pornography on his computer.

The investigation also revealed that Colon-Bonilla pressured a Cincinnati-area minor into sharing explicit images of him via email, and consented to an in-person meeting. The minor later resented Colon-Bonilla's constant pressure and control, and ended communication with him. In retaliation, Colon-Bonilla sent the explicit images to the minor's father, and to the principal and assistant principal of the school the minor attended.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts assisted with prosecuting this case.

This case is part of Operation Predator, which is a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested almost 12,000 individuals.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.