Teen facing 150+ charges in child porn case [updated]

LANCASTER – A 19-year-old man accused of posing as a modeling agent to extort young girls into sending him naked photos was charged Friday with more than 150 criminal counts, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.

Cesar Mauricio Estrada-Davila is charged with 109 felony and 42 misdemeanor counts, including 21 counts of possession of child or youth pornography; 21 counts of obscene matter; 21 counts of activity involving material depicting sexual conduct; 21 counts of distributing or showing child or youth pornography to a minor; 21 counts of contact with a minor for sexual offense; 21 counts of disorderly conduct by distributing a private intimate image of a minor causing emotional distress; 21 counts of extortion; and four counts of lewd act upon a child.

Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami, who is assigned to the case, said Estrada-Davila reached out to young girls on a social media website between January and April, claiming to be a modeling agent and insisting he could make them famous online. He would then ask the girls to send him photos of themselves in their underwear, the prosecutor said.

After Estrada-Davila received the images, he allegedly threatened to forward the pictures to the girls’ friends and family if they did not send nude pictures, the prosecutor said.

One of the victims, a Palmdale girl, eventually told her parents and her parents alerted authorities, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Authorities conducted an investigation into Estrada-Davila’s activities for several months before he was charged. The prosecutor said there are 21 female victims between the ages of 12 and 17.

Estrada-Davila, a Rosemead resident, was arrested Wednesday by detectives from the Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau.

He appeared in a Lancaster courtroom Friday and pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is due back in court Sept. 2.

Estrada-Davila faces several life sentences in state prison if convicted as charged. He remained jailed on $3 million bail.

The case is being investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Bureau.

UPDATE: VICTIMS SPAN SEVERAL STATES

According to a news release by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, investigators traveled throughout the United States to interview teenage victims in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Texas, Utah and Washington. Victims also were found in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and in the cities of San Francisco and Visalia.

The girls alleged they were approached on the Internet, primarily through Facebook and Kik social media sites, and enticed to send nude photos and videos of themselves performing sex acts.

Read more of the LASD news release below:

“The investigation began when a 14-year-old Antelope Valley girl reported to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies in early 2015 that she was the victim of sexual crimes by the suspect via Facebook.”

“The SAFE Team began an investigation and found that the suspect had allegedly befriended the victim on Facebook and enticed her to send nude photos of herself to him. After the victim complied, the suspect began to pressure her for more graphic photos and videos. When the victim refused, the suspect threatened to send the nude photos to her entire Facebook Friends list. Fearing her pictures would be shared with her friends and relatives, the victim disclosed the extortion to her father. They then reported it to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies in the Antelope Valley.”

“Based on the information supplied by the teen, detectives were able to locate the suspect and serve a search warrant at his home in the 8300 block of Rosemead Boulevard, Pico Rivera. The suspect’s computers and social media sites were searched and the suspect was identified as Cesar Estrada.”

“The SAFE Team detectives discovered over 26,000 pages of conversations and texts between Mr. Estrada and girls in multiple states making similar threats. All of the reported victims were teenage Hispanic girls.”

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