Police Officer Arrested For Child Porn

Press Release
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Puerto Rico


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 21, 2015


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Yesterday, a federal grand jury indicted Puerto 
Rico Police Officer Claudé Luis Merced-Aponte, 49, for possession and 
receipt of child pornography, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, 
United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.  Today, agents 
from Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Inves-
tigations (ICE-HSI) arrested him without incident.

Count one of the Indictment alleges that on or about April 7, 2015, Mer-
ced-Aponte did knowingly possess material which contained images of 
child pornography, that is, images of minors and prepubescent minors 
engaging in sexually explicit conduct.   Count two alleges that in or about 
the year 2012 the defendant received, via the Internet, similar images of 
minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Claudé Luis Merced-Aponte is also facing a Forfeiture Allegation which 
includes various computers, cellular phones, external hard drives and me-
mory sticks. The defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five 
years and a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison if he is
found guilty.

“No one is above the law, no matter what rank or badge a person might 
hold,” said United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico, Rosa 
Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez. “Exploitation by those entrusted to enforce the 
law strikes at the heart of our criminal justice system, and it will not be
 tolerated.  This case lays bare a disgraceful attempt by a veteran police 
officer to mistakenly believe that he could commit heinous crimes against 
children and hide in the shadows. The Justice Department will fight cri-
minals wherever we find them, even within the ranks of law enforcement.”

“These allegations are particularly troubling and disturbing because of Mr. 
Merced-Aponte’s position of trust as a law enforcement officer,” said An-
gel M. Melendez, special agent in charge of HSI San Juan. “Identifying 
people who violate their positions of public trust by contributing to the ex-
ploitation of children is a top priority for HSI as our statistics show. This 
year, we have seen an alarming increase of 47 percent in these cases as 
compared to fiscal year 2014.  We cannot, and will not, tolerate that. HSI 
will continue identifying, arresting and prosecuting those who attempt 
against the safety and security of our children regardless of who they are.”

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Cristina Caraballo, from the Crimes Against 
Children and Human Trafficking Unit, is in charge of the prosecution of the 
case. Indictments contain only charges and are not evidence of guilt. Defen-
dants are presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide ini-
tiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, 
launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ 
offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local 
resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit 
children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more 
information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechild
hood.gov.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an inter-
national initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch 
of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 12,000 individuals 
for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online
 child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking 
of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,300 individuals were arrested by 
HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified 
or rescued.