A man from Salinas, California, has pleaded guilty to charges of attempted enticement and coercion of a minor, as well as distribution of child pornography.
Court documents show that Donald Ramirez, 40, used Snapchat to send a 12-year-old girl a photo of his genitals. He also repeatedly demanded that the child create and send him photos of herself engaged in sexually explicit conduct at his direction. In addition to Snapchat, Ramirez used other social media platforms such as Telegram and Wickr to distribute child sexual abuse material, including images of another female minor with whom he had communicated on Snapchat.
Ramirez is scheduled for sentencing on May 11, 2026. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and could receive up to life in prison. The final sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal factors.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the Northern District of California announced the plea.
The Department of Homeland Security is leading the investigation into this case.
Trial Attorney McKenzie Hightower from the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Neal Hong for the Northern District of California are prosecuting the case.
According to officials, “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.”
