Sex offender from Riverside sentenced to 40 Years in federal prison

RIVERSIDE, CA (KESQ)– The United States Department of Justice today announced that a Riverside man was sentenced today to 480 months in federal prison for using social media and other internet platforms to solicit minor victims to produce and provide him with child sexual abuse material featuring themselves, sometimes in exchange for money.

A registered sex offender, Ricardo Francisco Aguado, 30, of Riverside, was sentenced by United States District Judge Sunshine S. Sykes, who also ordered him to pay $3,200 in restitution and placed him on lifetime supervised release.

The US Attorney's office says Aguado pleaded guilty on April 24 to one count of production of child pornography and one count of commission of a felony offense involving a minor while required to register as a sex offender. Officials say he has been in federal custody since August 2024.

According to his plea agreement, Aguado was convicted in 2015 in Riverside County Superior Court of multiple child sexual exploitation-related criminal charges, including possession of child pornography and distribution of child pornography. As a result of these convictions, Aguado was subject to lifetime registration as a sex offender.

Authorities say he was sentenced to 40 months in California state prison and was released from state custody in 2017.

The US Attorney's office says in August 2020, Aguado befriended the victim on the Discord instant messaging platform. Aguado allegedly used Discord, Snapchat, Instagram, and other online platforms to solicit the victim to produce and provide him with images and videos of the victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct, sometimes in exchange for cash.

Officials say in May 2022, Aguado contacted the victim – then a 14-year-old boy – via Instagram and cellphones, and arraigned to pay the victim $40 via CashApp for sexually explicit images and videos depicting the victim. Days later, Aguado distributed to another Snapchat user via his own Snapchat account a sexually explicit video of the victim.

The US Attorney's office says an investigation into Aguado’s online accounts and digital devices revealed that he had communicated with several minors online over several years and had solicited them to provide him with images of themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

These victims ranged in age from 12 years old to 15 years old and were residents of Florida, New York, South Carolina, and Texas.