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Date: 05-18-2020
Case Style:
United States of America v. Pasquale T. Salas a/k/a Gino
Case Number: 4:19-cr-40033-TSH
Judge: Timothy S. Hillman
Court: United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (Worcester County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States District Attorney’s Office
Defendant's Attorney:
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Worcester, MA - The United States of America charged Pasquale T. Salas a/k/a Gino with sexual exploitation of a minor and cyberstalking.
A law enforcement officer from Texas pleaded guiltyin federal court in Worcester to sexual exploitation of a minor and cyberstalking charges.
Pasquale T. Salas, 26, a/k/a Gino, a former deputy sheriff with the Matagorda County Sheriff’s Office, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of cyberstalking.
Salas met the victim through an online video game website in 2014, when the minor was 12 years old. Salas and the girl communicated on a private chat room and then moved those communications to various other platforms, including text messaging, Skype and Snapchat. Salas repeatedly solicited the minor to transmit sexually explicit images and videos of herself.
Beginning as early as 2016, Salas intimidated the victim into maintaining contact with him and sending additional sexually explicit material by threatening that he would send the minor’s sexually explicit images and videos to her family and her friends. In May 2019, when the victim attempted to terminate contact with Salas, he repeatedly sent threatening communications to the victim, using web-based applications to disguise the source of the communications.
At the time of his arrest, Salas’ smartphone was seized by investigators and found to contain at least one video, sent via social media, of the minor performing sexually explicit acts that Salas had coerced her to perform.
Salas admitted to contacting a second Massachusetts minor through the same website. From the time she was 12 until the time she was 16, he coerced her into remaining in contact with him and solicited sexually explicit images from her. Salas forced her to disclose her social media credentials so that he could track her activities and view her photographs. Salas sent pictures of himself inside a police car and with a gun and told the second victim that he had law enforcement friends in Massachusetts who would follow her and that no one would believe her if she reported what he had done. Salas was in contact with her until the time of his arrest.
Members of the public who have questions, concerns, or information about this case should contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office at 617-748-3274.
The charge of sexual exploitation of a minor provides for mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and up to 30 in prison, a minimum of five years and up to life of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of cyberstalking provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by Police Departments in Worcester County; the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Houston Field Office; the Matagorda (Texas) County Sheriff’s Office; and the Worcester Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Noto from Lelling’s Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
18:2251(a) SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF A MINOR
(a) Any person who employs, uses, persuades, induces, entices, or coerces any minor to engage in, or who has a minor assist any other person to engage in, or who transports any minor in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or Possession of the United States, with the intent that such minor engage in, any sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct or for the purpose of transmitting a live visual depiction of such conduct, shall be punished as provided under subsection (e), if such person knows or has reason to know that such visual depiction will be transported or transmitted using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or mailed, if that visual depiction was produced or transmitted using materials that have been mailed, shipped, or transported in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer, or if such visual depiction has actually been transported or transmitted using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or mailed.
(b) Any parent, legal guardian, or person having custody or control of a minor who knowingly permits such minor to engage in, or to assist any other person to engage in, sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct or for the purpose of transmitting a live visual depiction of such conduct shall be punished as provided under subsection (e) of this section, if such parent, legal guardian, or person knows or has reason to know that such visual depiction will be transported or transmitted using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or mailed, if that visual depiction was produced or transmitted using materials that have been mailed, shipped, or transported in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer, or if such visual depiction has actually been transported or transmitted using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or mailed.
(c)(1) Any person who, in a circumstance described in paragraph (2), employs, uses, persuades, induces, entices, or coerces any minor to engage in, or who has a minor assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct outside of the United States, its territories or possessions, for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct, shall be punished as provided under subsection (e).
(2) The circumstance referred to in paragraph (1) is that—
(A) the person intends such visual depiction to be transported to the United States, its territories or possessions, by any means, including by using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or mail; or
(B) the person transports such visual depiction to the United States, its territories or possessions, by any means, including by using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or mail.
(d)(1) Any person who, in a circumstance described in paragraph (2), knowingly makes, prints, or publishes, or causes to be made, printed, or published, any notice or advertisement seeking or offering—
(A) to receive, exchange, buy, produce, display, distribute, or reproduce, any visual depiction, if the production of such visual depiction involves the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and such visual depiction is of such conduct; or
(B) participation in any act of sexually explicit conduct by or with any minor for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct;
shall be punished as provided under subsection (e).
(2) The circumstance referred to in paragraph (1) is that—
(A) such person knows or has reason to know that such notice or advertisement will be transported using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means including by computer or mailed; or
(B) such notice or advertisement is transported using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means including by computer or mailed.
(e) Any individual who violates, or attempts or conspires to violate, this section shall be fined under this title and imprisoned not less than 15 years nor more than 30 years, but if such person has one prior conviction under this chapter, section 1591, chapter 71, chapter 109A, or chapter 117, or under section 920 of title 10 (article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), or under the laws of any State relating to aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact involving a minor or ward, or sex trafficking of children, or the production, possession, receipt, mailing, sale, distribution, shipment, or transportation of child pornography, such person shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not less than 25 years nor more than 50 years, but if such person has 2 or more prior convictions under this chapter, chapter 71, chapter 109A, or chapter 117, or under section 920 of title 10 (article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), or under the laws of any State relating to the sexual exploitation of children, such person shall be fined under this title and imprisoned not less than 35 years nor more than life. Any organization that violates, or attempts or conspires to violate, this section shall be fined under this title. Whoever, in the course of an offense under this section, engages in conduct that results in the death of a person, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for not less than 30 years or for life.
18:2261A(2)(B) CYBERSTALKING
Whoever—
(1) travels in interstate or foreign commerce or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or enters or leaves Indian country, with the intent to kill, injure, harass, or place under surveillance with intent to kill, injure, harass, or intimidate another person, and in the course of, or as a result of, such travel places that person in reasonable fear of the death of, or serious bodily injury to, or causes substantial emotional distress to that person, a member of the immediate family (as defined in section 115) of that person, or the spouse or intimate partner of that person; or
(2) with the intent—
(A) to kill, injure, harass, or place under surveillance with intent to kill, injure, harass, or intimidate, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person in another State or tribal jurisdiction or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States; or
(B) to place a person in another State or tribal jurisdiction, or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, in reasonable fear of the death of, or serious bodily injury to—
(i) that person;
(ii) a member of the immediate family (as defined in section 115 1 of that person; or
(iii) a spouse or intimate partner of that person;
uses the mail, any interactive computer service, or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce to engage in a course of conduct that causes substantial emotional distress to that person or places that person in reasonable fear of the death of, or serious bodily injury to, any of the persons described in clauses (i) through (iii) of subparagraph (B); 2
Outcome: 05/14/2020 44 SEALED MOTION to file redacted document as to Pasquale T. Salas by USA. (Castles, Martin) (Entered: 05/14/2020)
05/14/2020 45 District Judge Timothy S. Hillman: ELECTRONIC ORDER entered granting 44 Sealed Motion as to Pasquale T. Salas (1). (Castles, Martin) (Entered: 05/14/2020)
05/14/2020 46 Electronic Clerk's Notes for proceedings held before District Judge Timothy S. Hillman: Rule 11 Hearing as to Pasquale T. Salas held on 5/14/2020, Case called, Counsel and dft (in custody) appear by video conference, Dft changes plea of not-guilty and enters a plea of GUILTY as to counts 1-2, Plea entered by Pasquale T. Salas (1) Guilty Counts 1-2, ( Sentencing set for 9/3/2020 at 3:00 PM in Courtroom 2 - Worcester before District Judge Timothy S. Hillman), Procedural order re sentencing to issue, Dft remanded to custody of U.S. Marshal, (Attorneys present: Noto/Angiulo)Court Reporter Name and Contact information: Marianne Kusa-Ryll at justicehill@aol.com. (Castles, Martin) (Entered: 05/14/2020)
05/14/2020 47 District Judge Timothy S. Hillman: ORDER entered. PROCEDURAL ORDER re sentencing hearing as to Pasquale T. Salas. Sentencing set for 9/3/2020 at 3:00 PM in Courtroom 2 - Worcester before District Judge Timothy S. Hillman. (Castles, Martin) (Entered: 05/14/2020)
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