Fresno man pleads guilty to sexual exploitation of at least 50 minors using social apps
A Fresno man has pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, the U.S. District Attorney’s office announced on Friday.
Jacob Blanco, 28, of Fresno also pleaded to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography.
As part of Blanco’s plea agreement, he told investigators that he communicated with at least 50 minors.
Blanco’s activities were discovered in March 2017 when the parents of a then 6-year-old discovered that the minor had communicated with and created sexually explicit images at the request of another user on the social media app Musical.ly (now TikTok).
Investigators identified the offender as Blanco and searched his residence and digital devices, discovering that he had persuaded and coerced multiple minors to produce sexually explicit material.
Investigators said Blanco pretended to be a modeling agent or to be a minor himself. He also used Snapchat, Kik and other apps to communicate with minor females for the purpose of having those minors send images of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Blanco’s sentencing is set for Oct. 9 in U.S. District Court and he faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years in prison for each sexual exploitation count and five to 20 years in prison for the distribution of child pornography count.
He also faces a potential $250,000 fine and lifetime supervised release.
