Fresno man who used social media apps to sexually exploit minors sentenced to prison
A Fresno man who admitted to using social media apps to extract sexually explicit material from minors was sentenced Friday to 55 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Jacob Blanco, 29, pleaded guilty in May 2020 to sexual exploitation of a minor and receipt and distribution of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors.
Blanco will also be under a lifetime term of supervised release for sexual exploitation of a minor and distribution of child pornography.
Court records show Blanco’s activities were discovered in March 2017 when the parents of a then 6-year-old discovered the child had communicated with and created sexually explicit images at the request of another user on the social media application Musical.ly (now TikTok).
Law enforcement investigators identified that person as Blanco.
Investigators later searched Blanco’s residence and digital devices and discovered that he had successfully persuaded and coerced multiple minors to produce sexually explicit material.
Blanco used various methods of deception and enticement, including by pretending to be a modeling agent or to be a minor himself. Blanco used Snapchat, Kik, Musical.ly, and other applications to communicate with minor females to convince them to create and send him images of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Blanco admitted, as part of his plea agreement, that he communicated with at least 50 minors and asked for and received sexually explicit images from many of them.
“The defendant used an array of social media to target and manipulate young children,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “I commend the investigative and prosecution teams for their success in removing a dangerous child predator from the community. While no amount of jail time can undo the pain caused in this case, I hope today’s sentence brings a sense of justice and healing to those harmed by the defendant’s crimes.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said the 55-year sentence for Blanco was warranted because of the seriousness of the defendant’s conduct, the large number of minor victims, and the effect Blanco’s crimes will have on the dozens of young victims.
“The fact that the defendant used social media to sexually exploit the victims serves as a reminder that the internet can be a dangerous place especially for children,” Talbert said.
