NORWALK, CT — A Norwalk man has been charged with multiple federal child exploitation offenses, authorities announced.
Marcos Francisco Javier Gomez, 23, of Norwalk, was charged by federal criminal complaint, according to David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Jeff Grimming, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New England.
According to court documents, Gomez was arrested by the Putnam County (N.Y.) Sheriff’s Office on April 3, 2024, after he traveled to New York to meet with a 13-year-old girl.
Gomez had engaged in sexually explicit communications with the girl via text messages, FaceTime and various social media applications, according to the allegations.
Court-authorized searches of Gomez’s cellphone revealed evidence that he had been communicating with at least five minor females in Connecticut, according to the complaint.
The searches showed Gomez had recorded himself engaging in sexual activity with four of the minor victims, had requested that the minor victims send him videos depicting them engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and had sent obscene images of himself to at least one of the minor victims, according to authorities.
Gomez typically met his minor victims through Snapchat, according to the complaint.
The complaint charges Gomez with production of child pornography, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum term of life.
He is also charged with receipt or attempted receipt of child pornography, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.
Additional charges include possession or attempted possession of child pornography, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, and transfer of obscene materials to a minor, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.
Gomez has been serving a New York state prison sentence related to his conduct with the 13-year-old minor victim in New York.
He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert A. Richardson in Hartford on Thursday and was ordered detained.
The investigation is being conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Putnam County (N.Y.) Sheriff’s Office and the Norwalk Police Department.
