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New York For-Hire Vehicle Driver Sentenced to 19 Years in Prison for Explicit Crimes in New Jersey

A New York man was sentenced today to 235 months in prison for enticing and transporting a minor across state lines to engage in explicit activity and for receiving explicit images of minors from another minor, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

According to U.S. Attorney Sellinger, Richard Gabriel Piedra Ordonez, 37, of Queens, New York, previously pleaded guilty to an information charging him with coercion and enticement of a minor, transporting a minor to engage in criminal explicit activity and receiving explicit images of minors.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In April 2019, Piedra began communicating with a New Jersey resident who was under the age of 16 using Snapchat and other social media and messaging platforms. 

Piedra was aware of the minor’s age and misrepresented his own age as 19 when he was actually 35 years old. 

Over the course of the subsequent months, Piedra and the victim met in person and engaged in explicit activity. 

On multiple occasions, Piedra traveled to New Jersey to engage in explicit contact with the victim and drove the victim to his home in New York City, where they engaged in explicit activity.

Federal law enforcement agents executed a search warrant on Piedra’s residence in December 2019 and found explicit images and videos of minors on a hard drive located in Piedra’s bedroom. 

Further investigation revealed that, in 2017, Piedra had communicated with an Indiana resident who was under the age of 15 using various social media and messaging platforms. 

Piedra was aware of the minor’s age and misrepresented his own age as 19 years old. Piedra requested and received explicit images and videos from the Indiana victim.

In addition to the prison term, Piedra was sentenced to 10 years of supervised release and ordered him to register as a sex offender.

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