Lorton man convicted of child exploitation gets 18-year prison sentence following ICE Washington, D.C. investigation

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — An investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement led to the sentencing of Jose Alejandro Belmonte Cardozo, 31, to 18 years in prison for sexually exploiting minors through a popular social media platform.

“Those who exploit and harm children will be held fully accountable,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Washington D.C. acting Special Agent in Charge Christopher Heck. “Individuals who produce child sexual abuse material prey on the most vulnerable members of our communities and there is no place for them in a safe society. Today, one less predator is on the streets, which means there’s one less victim tomorrow. HSI D.C. will continue to work tirelessly in its efforts to prosecute child predators and ensure they are sent to federal prison.”

According to court documents, between at least May 1, 2021, and May 8, 2024, Belmonte Cardoza used Snapchat to find minor girls and entice them to send him child sexual abuse material. Belmonte Cardoza created different Snapchat accounts depending on the scheme he used to obtain child sexual abuse material from the minors.

According to investigation documents, Belmonte Cardozo used a particular Snapchat account to catfish two 15-year-old girls, convincing them that he was a teenage boy. He sent the minors pictures that he claimed depicted him, but which actually depicted a boy who appeared to be approximately 16 years old. Belmonte Cardoza persuaded the minors to send him child sexual abuse material, which he secretly recorded on a second cell phone to avoid the in-app notification and then saved the recordings to a password-protected hidden folder on his cell phone.

Belmonte Cardoza used a second account to convince other minors to send him child sexual abuse material in exchange for admission to a phony group chat he purported to administer. After Belmonte Cardozo obtained the material from the minors, he enticed them to send him additional images and videos.

Belmonte Cardozo amassed more than 1,000 images and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct on five different electronic devices. He transported two cellphones containing approximately 600 sexually explicit images and videos of minors May 8, 2024, into the United States at Dulles International Airport.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Halper and Zoe Bedell prosecuted the case.

Members of the public with information about criminal activity in your community are encouraged to contact the ICE Tip Line at 866-347-2423.

Learn more about HSI’s mission to increase public safety in your community on X at @HSI_DC.

Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.gov)