Texas woman sentenced to 25 years for child sexual abuse conspiracy in Mexico

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Published  March 23, 2026 11:03am CDT
FOX Local

The Brief

    • Anika Bywater, 29, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on Monday for conspiring to sexually abuse a young child while living in Mexico.
    • The former Texas resident pleaded guilty to charges involving the filming of the abuse, which federal investigators discovered circulating on the internet.
    • Bywater will serve 20 years of supervised release following her prison term as part of a nationwide initiative to combat child exploitation.

GONZALES, Texas - A Texas woman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiring to sexually abuse a young child while living in Mexico, federal officials announced Monday.

Anika Bywater sentenced

Anika Bywater, 29, formerly of Gonzales, was also ordered to serve 20 years of supervised release. She pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to engage in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.

The backstory:

According to court documents, Bywater was living in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, when she and another person filmed themselves sexually abusing a child. Investigators discovered two separate videos of the abuse circulating on the internet. In the footage, Bywater is seen apprehending the victim as the child attempted to crawl away.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit with assistance from the FBI’s attaché office in Mexico City.

"This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse," the Department of Justice said in a statement.

The prosecution was led by the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

The Source:  

TexasCrime and Public Safety