Leah B. Foley United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts | Department of Justice
A Springfield man, Bairon Ubeda, 45, was convicted by a federal jury of sexual exploitation of children, receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography. The conviction followed a four-day trial in the District of Massachusetts. Sentencing is scheduled for November 24, 2025.
Ubeda was previously indicted in May 2023 while serving a state sentence for aggravated rape and abuse of a child, among other offenses. Evidence presented at trial showed that Ubeda used fraudulent social media accounts to impersonate representatives of a fake adult modeling company. He coerced women into providing explicit images and personal information by deception. Ubeda then threatened to release this material publicly or to authorities unless the victims complied with his demands for sexual acts.
In some cases involving mothers, Ubeda threatened to send compromising material to child protective services so the victims would risk losing custody of their children. The federal charges were brought after Ubeda coerced a woman into using her three-year-old child to create sexually explicit content.
The charge of sexual exploitation carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison, as well as supervised release and fines. Receipt and possession charges also carry significant penalties under federal law.
“U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi; and Police Superintendent Lawrence Akers of the Springfield Police Department made the announcement today.” Valuable assistance came from the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Maynard and Mark Grady prosecuted the case.
This prosecution was part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation nationwide through collaboration between federal, state, and local agencies. More information about Project Safe Childhood can be found at https://www.justice.gov/psc.
