GUILTY VERDICT FOR HONDURAN ALIEN ATTEMPTING TO HAVE SEX WITH MINOR

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA - Israel Ramos Portillo, a/k/a "Juan Carlos," 39, a citizen of Honduras who resided in Coffee Springs, Alabama, was found guilty by a federal jury yesterday of attempting to entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity and traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. The verdicts were announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

U.S. Attorney Heekin said: "This case exemplified the persistent threats our children face online from predators like this defendant seeking to sexually exploit and victimize them. Fortunately, our state and federal law enforcement partners are keenly focused on identifying and catching those predators wherever they lurk online, and my office stands ready to aggressively prosecute these crimes to keep our kids safe."

Trial testimony and evidence demonstrated that on April 12, 2025, state and federal law enforcement agencies conducted an online undercover operation aimed at identifying adults using the internet to sexually exploit children. During the operation, the defendant began interacting with law enforcement's undercover profile on a dating website, through which the detective was posing as a 14-year-old minor child.

Through numerous text messages over a two-week period, the defendant engaged in sexually explicit conversations and expressed interest in having sex with the child, ultimately arranging to travel from his home in Alabama to Tallahassee to meet the girl and take her to a hotel to have sex. When the defendant arrived at the proposed meeting location, law enforcement arrested him and seized his cell phone as evidence. After searching the defendant's cell phone, law enforcement confirmed that he was the person communicating with the undercover detective and that he traveled across state lines with intent to engage in sexual conduct with the fictitious 14-year-old girl.

Portillo faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum of life imprisonment, followed by a term of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender. Further, because he is an alien who is not lawfully present in this country, Portillo will be held for deportation proceedings at the conclusion of serving his federal sentence.

The case involved a joint investigation by the Leon County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin M. Keen.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 19, 2026, at 2:00 pm at the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee before United States District Judge Mark E. Walker.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice and led by the U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), it 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 https://www.projectsafechildhood.govLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..

This case is also part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation's principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of FloridaLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. website. For more information about the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl.