JACKSONVILLE – U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced Henry Obdulio Cordon, 38, of Antioch, California, pleaded guilty to producing a photo of him sexually abusing a child. Cordon faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison and a potential lifetime term of supervised release. Cordon was arrested in California on May 16, 2019, and has been in custody since. His sentencing hearing is Oct. 23.

According to court documents, the investigation began in April 2019 when an internet service provider sent a series of CyberTipline reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. These reports related to the discovery of child sexual abuse photos within an email account that geolocated to California. Law enforcement officers traced the email account, which contained at least five photos depicting children being sexually abused to Cordon.

On May 9, 2019, the internet service provider submitted additional CyberTipline reports to NCMEC related to other accounts that were linked to and used by Cordon. One of the photos in the email account depicted a young child being sexually abused by an adult male. Metadata associated with the photo indicated that it had been produced on July 11, 2011, using a Blackberry device. Additional search warrants revealed that the email account was used at Cordon’s apartment during April and May 2019.

On May 16, 2019, during the execution of a search warrant at Cordon’s residence, Cordon admitted that he had searched the internet for “nude teen pictures.” When asked if he ever had a Blackberry device, Cordon said he had one about nine years before when he lived in Orange Park. Investigators asked him about a particular photo depicting the sexual abuse of a young child that was recovered from his email account. Cordon eventually admitted knowing what they were discussing when asked who the child was and how he met her. He knew the child in this photo and that she was “maybe” younger than four. Cordon claimed that his sexual abuse of this child only happened one time and that he remembered emailing this photo to himself to save. He also admitted taking the picture with his Blackberry.

Further investigation confirmed that Cordon had taken the photo and sent it to his email account. The image was also recovered from the device he possessed in California on May 16, 2019. Law enforcement authorities in Florida confirmed the identity and age of the child, as well as the location in Florida where Cordon had taken the photo.    

The case was investigated by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force of Contra Costa County in California, the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney D. Rodney Brown is prosecuting it.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit justice.gov/psc.