WASHINGTON — A Mexican national living in Fredericksburg, Va., has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for producing child sexual abuse material involving a victim under the age of 13, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Department of Homeland Security.
Samuel Flores de Dios was sentenced on June 24 to 360 months in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, according to prosecutors. He is also required to register as a sex offender. According to the DHS statement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer for Flores de Dios in January, meaning the agency has requested that he be turned over to federal immigration custody upon completion of his sentence.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Flores de Dios produced child sexual abuse material on at least four occasions between February and March 2025. Prosecutors said he brought a victim under 13 into a bedroom in a Fredericksburg apartment he was renting, sexually abused the victim, and recorded the acts using cellphones. Prosecutors said one of the cellphones also contained footage showing a second adult male abusing the same victim; that individual has not been named in the release.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas A. Garnett of the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Angelica Carrasco of the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section prosecuted the case.
“This illegal alien repeatedly sexually abused a child younger than 13 and filmed it to produce child pornography,” Acting Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. “He will now be behind bars for the next 30 years. Once his sentence is complete, we will remove him from our country so that he can never harm another innocent child. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, we are putting the safety of the American people first.”
According to DHS, Flores de Dios first attempted to enter the United States illegally in Arizona in 2005. He was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol at the time and voluntarily returned to Mexico, the agency said. DHS said he subsequently re-entered the United States illegally, though the agency did not specify the date or location.
In its statement, DHS also characterized Virginia as a “sanctuary state” and criticized Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger by name, saying under her leadership the state “has become a hotbed of illegal alien crime.” The release referenced other recent cases involving individuals in the country illegally, though the specific case list was not fully included. The characterizations are those of DHS. A response from the governor’s office was not included in the release; the governor has generally rejected the “sanctuary state” label in past public statements.
Anyone with information about criminal activity involving immigration violations can report tips to ICE by calling 1-866-347-2423.
Sources: U.S. Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia
