Austin man arrested for alleged sexual exploitation of 14-year-old through social media

AUSTIN, Texas - An Austin man was recently arrested on criminal charges related to alleged sexual exploitation of a minor through social media.

The backstory:

The U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Texas says in a news release that 29-year-old Jonathan Ruiz-Correa, allegedly using the name "Lucas" and claiming to be a 17-year-old, began chatting on Snapchat with a 14-year-old girl in May.

Court documents allege that Ruiz-Correa knew the girl's age and their conversations included discussion of sexually explicit videos Ruiz-Correa wanted the girl to send him, which she eventually did.

Ruiz-Correa also allegedly explored the possibility that he would pay for her to travel from out of state to meet him, and two times he used a PayPal account to send the girl money. 

There were also alleged chats between Ruiz-Correa and the girl on Instagram.

The girl allegedly learned the real age of Ruiz-Correa when she initiated a conversation with one of Ruiz-Correa’s female Instagram followers. The female Instagram follower said Ruiz-Correa had been trying to talk to her as well and sent the girl a video she had found on Ruiz-Correa’s alleged dating app profile.

As part of the investigation, agents seized a mobile phone containing a sexually explicit video of the girl. The phone also contained a video allegedly depicting sexual activity with another minor, whom Ruiz-Correa allegedly traveled to meet in Houston in January.

What's next:

The FBI is investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Devlin is prosecuting the case.

Ruiz-Correa is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children and one count of engaging in activities relating to material constituting or containing child pornography. 

If convicted, he faces 15 to 30 years in prison for the exploitation charge and five to 20 years in prison for the second count.

A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Dig deeper:

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 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.justice.gov/psc.