A 41-year-old Border Patrol agent based in Yuma, Ariz., was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday for child pornography, including production and distribution of materials online.
Nereo Mejia Gomez, Jr. allegedly produced child pornography four times involving a girl under 16, and he distributed child pornography five times in February and March 2024. He also allegedly possessed child pornography involving very young children stored on a hard drive packed into a range bag.
Federal officials also charged him with possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle.
Gomez faces 15 to 30 years in prison for production of child pornography, and each count of distributing and possessing child pornography carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. All child exploitation counts also carry a potential fine of up to $250,000 and a lifetime term of supervised release, said Zach J. Stoebe, a Justice Department spokesman.
Gomez faces up to 10 years in prison for the unregistered rifle, Stoebe added.
From November 2022 through February 2024, Gomez allegedly used a 17-year-old girl, identified only as “Jane Doe” in court records to “engage in sexually explicit conduct” for distribution, wrote Kayla Hill, a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations—part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Hill, a special agent with HSI’s Yuma Cyber/Special Investigation Group identified the images in February after employees with the company Kik found 10 files which likely included child pornography. Kik employees viewed the files—called child sexual abuse materials, or CSAM—and sent a report to Internet Crimes Against Children, a program created by the Justice Department to intercept such materials and prosecute people who produce and distribute them.
ICAC task forces have helped state and local law enforcement agencies conduct approximately 184,700 investigations, leading the arrest of more than 10,800 offenders in fiscal year 2023, officials said.
Hill linked the videos to a IP address and through Charter Communications was able to find the files were uploaded from a home in Yuma.
On April 10, special agents requested a warrant and searched Gomez’s home. There they seized “several digital devices” including a 2-terrabyte drive packed into a range bag designed to hold firearms.
This included photographs as well as videos, Hill wrote.
Agents requested to search for hidden cameras in the home and Gomez’s wife—a co-owner of the home who had since left the residence—agreed to an additional search. Agents did not find cameras, but did find micro-USB cables commonly used to power cameras. They also searched the home’s attic and found a nest of extension cords and signs the duct-work had been cut through allow the cables to reach to ends of the house.
One video is allegedly from an air vent in the closet, and the video shows Gomez accessing the camera, Hill wrote. He archived these videos in a subfolder titled “bedroom” which showed Jane Doe “engaged in sexually explicit conduct,” Hill wrote.
A search of Gomez’s hard drive also found “numerous” files containing child pornography, including photos and videos involving toddlers, according to the indictment.
Homeland Security Investigations is conducting the investigation in this case, said Stoebe. The United States Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, is handling the prosecution.
The Yuma Sector of the Border Patrol has been cooperative in the investigation, he said.