SIOUX CITY – A young man from Texas who cultivated a sexual relationship with an Iowa child will spend a long time behind bars pondering his actions.
A Brownsville, Texas man, who coerced a minor to engage in live streaming of sexually explicit conduct was sentenced February 6, 2024, to 20 years in federal prison. Isaac Herrera, age 22, from Brownsville, Texas, received the prison term after a May 10, 2023, guilty plea to sexual exploitation of a minor.
Evidence in the case revealed that Herrera met a child online in 2019 and eventually cultivated a sexual relationship with the child. Herrera coerced the child into live streaming sexually explicit conduct, where Herrera took screenshots during the stream. Several of the images were found on Herrera’s phone when he was arrested in June 2022 after walking into a local school and claiming to be the minor’s guardian. Herrera traveled from Texas to Iowa to engage in conduct with the victim. While Herrera was in jail, pending trial, he also admitted to contacting the victim in order to influence the victim’s potential testimony, resulting in a no contact order. Up until the evening before sentencing, however, Herrera made phone calls to the victim in an effort to continue communication and further influence testimony.
Herrera was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand to 240 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve an 8-year term of supervised release after the prison term, during which he will be prohibited from contacting three minor victims from this case. There is no parole in the federal system.
United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa Timothy Duax stated, “I am proud of the efforts of the FBI and Sioux City Police Department to capture a dangerous child molester, and see him sentenced to a lengthy prison term. The citizens of our community feel safer knowing that local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies work together seamlessly to protect children from dangerous predators like Mr. Herrera.”
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 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.
Herrera is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Sioux City Police Department and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ron Timmons.
