Update 12/11: Texas A&M International University confirmed Lechuga is no longer employed by the university.
Carlos Jobany Castaneda Lechuga has been arrested for producing videos involving sexual exploitation of minors.
U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani announced Tuesday that 36-year-old Lechuga was arrested and charged with production and distribution of child pornography.
According to a complaint filed December 2, authorities said they learned of videos that appeared to be produced in the U.S. and distributed on the dark web. The videos allegedly show an adult male with different minor children in at least three different videos. The Federal Bureau of Investigation used facial recognition to positively identify Lechuga in the videos.
A search warrant was executed on December 1 at Lechuga’s residence in Laredo. A person familiar with his house identified his residence as the location where at least one of the videos was produced.
Lechuga has been a private teacher in Phoenix, Arizona and a faculty member at Texas A&M International University in Laredo. The investigation also found that Lechuga had been offering music lessons targeted toward children.
Lechuga was listed as a lecturer at TAMIU as recently as Monday, but has since been removed from the staff directory.
If Lechuga is convicted, he faces up to 30 years in federal prison for production of child pornography and a maximum of 20 years for each count of distribution of pornography. All charges also carry a possible maximum fine of $250,000.
No ads. No paywalls. No government grants. No corporate masters.
Just real news for real Texans.
Support Texas Scorecard to keep it that way!
