RivCo Man Who Preyed On Kids Sentenced to Federal Prison

RIVERSIDE, CA — A convicted sex offender from Riverside who communicated with a teenage boy, from whom he procured explicit images then shared with someone else, was sentenced Friday to 40 years in federal prison.

Ricardo Francisco Aguado, 30, pleaded guilty in April to production of child pornography and perpetrating a felony against a child while a registered sex offender.

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During a hearing at U.S. District Court in downtown Riverside Friday, Judge Sunshine Sykes imposed the sentence deemed appropriate by the court.

Aguado was convicted in Riverside County Superior Court in 2015 of multiple charges, including possession and distribution of child porn. He received a three-year term in state prison and was released after roughly two years. One of the conditions of his parole was lifetime registration as a sex offender in California, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Federal prosecutors said that, in August 2020, the defendant began using Discord, Instagram and Snapchat to prey on underage victims.

He came into contact with a 14-year-old Illinois boy, whose identity wasn't disclosed, and in May 2022, offered to pay the victim $40 via an online transaction to take and send him sexually oriented pictures and videos of himself, according to prosecutors.

The youth agreed, and after the defendant took receipt of the images, he turned around and sent one of the files to another Snapchat user, prosecutors said.

The communications were ultimately reported to authorities, culminating in Aguado's arrest in August 2024.

"An investigation into Aguado's online accounts and digital devices revealed that he had communicated with several minors online over several years and had solicited them to provide him with images of themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct," the U.S. Attorney's Office stated. "These victims ranged from 12 to 15 years old and were residents of Florida, New York, South Carolina and Texas."

If and when he's granted parole from federal prison, Aguado will have to remain on lifetime supervised release, under the terms of his sentence.