Alexandria Man Charged For Role In Sexual Exploitation Of Kids

ALEXANDRIA, VA — An Alexandria man was arrested and charged Tuesday in relation to alleged production and distribution of child pornography, according to federal officials.

Court documents in the Eastern District of Virginia indicate Fairfax County Police received a tip about possible child pornography sent between Facebook accounts in June 2019. Facebook had provided the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with seven image files from March 2019 believed to be child pornography.

Federal prosecutors allege that Abel Ambrocio, 53, instructed an adult woman over Facebook to take and send him over 100 images depicting sexual abuse of minors. The images were taken over several months and involved the woman and two victims: a 3-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl.

According to an affidavit, Ambrocio told detectives the woman lives outside the U.S. and that they were in an online relationship. Ambrocio also allegedly distributed some images of child sexual abuse to another person.

Ambrocio is charged with production of child pornography and distribution of child pornography. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison.

The case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. Tips can be sent to the task force by calling 202-278-2000.