Source: US FBI
CHICAGO — A federal judge has sentenced a Chicago man to 45 years in prison for sexually exploiting and receiving child sexual abuse material from at least 14 children with whom he communicated on social media.
In 2019 and 2020, ARMANDO TORRES used social media to contact and persuade young girls, most of whom were younger than ten years old, to create and send him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves. Torres sought out children on popular applications, including Snapchat and Instagram, and his social media screennames were designed to appeal to them. Torres often pretended he was a child in order to gain his victims’ trust. He provided graphic step-by-step instructions to his victims, including how to pose their bodies, the sexual language to use, and how to film and send the images and videos.
Torres, 35, of Chicago, pleaded guilty earlier this year to exploitation and child pornography charges. On Aug. 11, 2025, U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger imposed the 45-year prison sentence.
The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.
“Children are the most vulnerable members of our community,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Caitlin Walgamuth argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Their innocence and trust in others make them defenseless to predators like Torres, who easily manipulated them online. Torres’s sexualization of the victims deprived them of their childhood and inflicted significant trauma on them, as well as their families, that will continue to impact them long after the experience is over.”
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. PSC marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, while also providing critical services to victims.
If you believe you are a victim of sexual exploitation, you are encouraged to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by logging on to https://www.missingkids.org/ or calling 1-800-843-5678. The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.