CENTRAL — Joel Estrada-Secundino, 49, of Central, pleaded guilty Oct. 27 in federal court in Greenville to possession of child pornography, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252A(a)(5)(B).
U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs of Greenville accepted the plea and will impose sentence after she has reviewed the pre-sentence report which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.
Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that in April 2015 agents investigating crimes against children downloaded two files from the Ares computer network that appeared to be child pornography. The files were being shared by the computer’s owner. The IP address was traced to Estrada-Secundino’s apartment in Central.
After further investigation, on Aug. 19, 2015, a federal search warrant was executed at the apartment. Once inside the residence, law enforcement located Estrada-Secundino in an upstairs bedroom with a HP laptop computer in his possession.
During a post-Miranda interview, Estrada-Secundino confirmed his laptop did contain pornography with children engaged in sexual activity. A forensic examination of the computer revealed multiple images and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles stated the maximum penalty Estrada-Secundino can receive is a fine of $250,000 and/or imprisonment for 20 years, supervised release for life, plus a special assessment of $100.
The case was investigated by agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Investigations and the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Bill Watkins of the Greenville office handled the case.