LAS CRUCES, NM (KRQE) – After Yahoo and its parent company flagged an email account for child sex abuse material, police followed a digital trail to Raymond Pacheco, from Las Cruces. Now, a jury has found Pacheco guilty of 11 counts of sexual exploitation of children.
Back in 2019, Oath Holdings, the parent company of Yahoo, noticed multiple suspicious images on an email account. The company sent a message to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to court documents and a press release from the Office of the Third Judicial District Attorney. The state’s Attorney General’s Office then traced an associated phone number back to New Mexico, according to a statement of probable cause filed by a Las Cruces Police detective.
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A jury returned a verdict in Pacheco’s criminal trial Friday. They found Pacheco guilty of 11 counts of manufacturing visual medium of sexual exploitation of children. He has not yet received a sentence, but faces over 130 years in prison, according to the Doña Ana County District Attorney’s Office.
“I want to acknowledge the dedication and persistence of all those involved in the relentless pursuit of justice to protect our children from cyber pornography,” District Attorney Gerald Byers said in a press release. “My office is committed to assist in fighting the exploitation of children and keeping the residents of Doña Ana County safe.”
While law enforcement actively seeks out those exploiting children, citizens can also report suspicious incidents. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children takes tips online at report.cybertip.org.
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