A Yuma Border Patrol agent has been charged with producing and distributing child pornography, officials with Homeland Security Investigations announced.
HSI officials announced on Monday that Nereo Mejia Gomez Jr., 41, of Yuma was indicted by grand jury on May 7 for multiple child sexual abuse material-related offenses, including distributing and possessing related material.
Officials said Gomez was also indicted for possession of an unregistered firearm that was a short-barreled rifle. A federal magistrate judge ordered that Gomez be released pending trial.
According to HSI, the indictment alleges that between November 2022 and March 2023, Gomez produced child pornography four times with a girl who was 15 years old and turned 16. The indictment also alleges that he distributed the child porn five times this past February and March using a facility of interstate commerce and that he possessed the child sporn and an unregistered firearm last month.
HSI officials said the offense of production of child pornography carries a potential sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison, while each count of distributing and possessing child porn carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Possession of an unregistered firearm carries a max penalty of 10 years in jail. All child exploitation counts also carry potential fines of up to $250,000 and a lifetime term of supervised release.
Officials said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona is handling the prosecution. Agents with the Yuma Sector of the Border Patrol have been cooperative in the investigation.
