A New Mexico man was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on December 19, 2019 following his guilty plea to child pornography charges. John Bevel, 44, from Las Cruces, NM was also ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution to one of his victims.
John pleaded guilty to the following criminal charges: advertising visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct; and distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography.
John admitted using a messaging application on his cellphone between Oct. 17 and Oct. 18, 2017, to communicate with another person about receiving and exchanging videos and photographs of minors engaged in sexual activity.
John also admitted sending child pornography over a messaging application on Sept. 25, 2017. In addition, he admitted possessing child pornography in an online storage account on Sept. 24, 2017.
A young girl told federal agents that John groomed her for sexual abuse beginning at the age of 8. The girl said John sexually abused her, recorded it and uploaded it onto his computer.
