HARTFORD, CT — Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny sentenced Hector Torres, 34, of Monroe to 300 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for child exploitation offenses related to his alleged sexual abuse of three minor girls.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Torres used Snapchat, FaceTime and text messaging to communicate with three minor girls, ages 11 and 12, and coerce them to send him naked pictures of themselves and to engage in sexual activity with him.
On multiple occasions in February 2021, Torres picked up the girls in his car and brought them to a shopping plaza parking lot in Hartford where they each engaged in sexual activity with Torres at his direction.
Torres promised to give the girls money, sneakers, vaping supplies, and/or food if they sent him photos of their bodies and/or engaged in sex acts with him. In March 2021, investigators reviewed at least three videos of Torres’s sexual abuse of the girls.
Torres has been detained since his arrest on April 13, 2021.
On March 8, 2023, he pleaded guilty to two counts of coercion and enticement of minors to engage in sexual activity, and one count of production of child pornography.
This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Hartford Police Department, the Monroe Police Department, and the Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Angel M. Krull through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.
For information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc. To report cases of child exploitation, visit www.cybertipline.com.
All respectful comments with the commenter’s first and last name are welcome.
