Thursday, April 11, 2024
LocalNewsOnly
EL PASO, Texas – An Odessa man pleaded guilty in a federal court in El Paso to three counts of cyberstalking. Investigating agencies are seeking help from anyone who may have been victimized by Hugo Iram Cardona Jr., 21.
According to court documents, Cardona used a two-factor authentication (2FA) scheme to gain access to various young females’ Snapchat accounts to steal their intimate photographs and videos. Cardona then contacted the females using numerous social media accounts on interactive computer services, such as Instagram and Snapchat, and demanded that they “apologize,” or he would publicly release the content. In most cases, Cardona would also demand his victims video chat with him while engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) revealed at least 15 victims located in El Paso, Colorado and Arizona. The investigation determined the victims were initially contacted by Cardona from Instagram accounts “idkprii85,” “designoiram,” “juniorrriram,” “urfavpapi,” “urdvddyjunie” and “juniorrhernandez” as well as Snapchat accounts “juniepri,” “asap_juniorrr” and “juniorrriram.” Victims were also contacted from multiple TextNow numbers. The Instagram accounts, Snapchat accounts and TextNow numbers were all determined to be registered to Cardona. Cardona’s offenses occurred from on or about Aug. 15, 2020 through on or about June 1, 2023.
If you have had or know anyone who has had contact with Cardona Jr. or any of the above-listed usernames while using Snapchat, Instagram or TextNow between 2020 and 2023, please complete this victim questionnaire.
The FBI/HSI are legally mandated to identify victims of crime in federal investigations. Victims may be eligible for certain services, restitution, and other rights under federal and/or state law. Your responses are voluntary but may be useful in the federal investigation and to identify you as a potential victim. Based on the responses provided, you may be contacted by the FBI and asked to provide additional information. Victim identities are private, and case-related information is confidential.
Cardona is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3 and faces up to 10 years in prison for each count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge John Morales for the FBI El Paso Field Office and Acting Special Agent in Charge Eric McLoughlin for the HSI El Paso Division made the announcement.
The FBI, HSI, El Paso Police Department are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shane Romero and Nallely Barbosa are prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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