Four individuals were arrested in Puerto Rico on charges related to child exploitation, following indictments returned by a federal grand jury on February 26, 2026. The arrests were carried out by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), as announced by W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.
The defendants are identified as Héctor Rafael Cuadrado-Abadía, 44, of Caguas; Héctor Luis Olmedo-Burgos, 27, of Naguabo; Frederick Jesús Pinto-Rodríguez, 23, of Yabucoa; and Daniel Delgado-Delgado, 31, also of Yabucoa. Court documents state that each defendant knowingly possessed, received, and distributed child pornography using their cell phones. Each faces two counts: receipt/distribution and possession of child exploitation material.
“There’s no greater priority than safeguarding our children from those who seek to exploit or harm them,” said W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to continuing our joint efforts with our state, local and federal partners to locate these offenders and ensure that they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Yariel Ramos, Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI commented: “This investigation exposed the disturbing reality behind the exchange of child sexual abuse material - individuals sharing explicit images of minors without remorse and revictimizing those children every time those images are circulated. Today we shut down that chat with a clear message: if you exploit our children, you will go to jail.”
If convicted on receipt and distribution charges, each defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and up to twenty years; for possession charges alone the maximum penalty is ten years imprisonment. Sentencing decisions will be made by a federal district court judge after considering statutory factors and sentencing guidelines.
Assistant US Attorney Elba Gorbea from the Child Exploitation and Immigration Unit is prosecuting these cases.
HSI provides resources for reporting suspicious activity related to child sexual exploitation through its iGuardians initiative and encourages people to call 787-729-6969 or visit its information page at https://www.ice.gov/topics/iGuardians.
These prosecutions are part of Project Safe Childhood—a nationwide program launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice—to combat child sexual exploitation online by coordinating efforts among federal prosecutors’ offices such as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico (official website), which serves all areas within Puerto Rico in enforcing federal law (official website). The office pursues criminal prosecutions including crimes like public corruption and drug trafficking (official website) while also offering mechanisms for reporting crime (official website).
W. Stephen Muldrow currently holds the position as United States Attorney for this office (official website).
It is noted that an indictment represents only an allegation; all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
