South Texas Child Predator Given Maximum Sentence

A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting a child and possessing child sexual assault material (CSAM), U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani announced.

Kristopher Santos pleaded guilty to the charges on March 28, 2023.  

U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal sentenced Santos to 360 months in prison for the sexual exploitation of a child and 240 months for possession of child pornography, to be served concurrently. The court also ordered Santos to pay $126,000 in restitution to the victims and to serve 10 years of supervised release following his imprisonment.  

“This defendant is a textbook child predator,” said Hamdani. “He is the reason parents lose sleep at night, wondering if their kids are safe when not with them.”

“Today’s sentencing marks a significant victory in our relentless pursuit of justice for the innocent victims of child exploitation,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Antonio Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee.

Authorities identified Santos in 2019 during an undercover investigation into the online sharing of CSAM. A search warrant executed at his home uncovered numerous electronic devices containing 47,729 images and 7,667 videos of child pornography.

Santos admitted to sexually abusing two minor relatives and taking sexually explicit photos of them.  

HSI conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Webb County Sheriff’s Office.