Hillsboro Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Sexual Exploitation of a Child and Cyberstalking

PORTLAND, Ore.- A Hillsboro man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Thursday afternoon after pleading guilty to sexually exploiting a child and cyberstalking.

According to court documents, Jorge Rosales, 29, met a young child who lived outside of the United States on "Musical.ly," an online social media application that later became TikTok. After interacting with the child online, Rosales convinced the child to send him sexually explicit images and videos. Once he received those files, Rosales demanded more, threatening to send the sexually explicit images to the child's family and friends. Rosales stalked the child online for months on TikTok and Snapchat, harassing the child and the child's online friends using various social media accounts he created.

Investigators with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed a search warrant at Rosales's residence, seizing various electronic devices. Searches of those devices revealed a cache of child pornography that included videos depicting the child Rosales had exploited online. The searches also revealed some of the social media accounts Rosales used to exploit and stalk the child.

This case was investigated by HSI, with assistance from law enforcement officers in the child's country of residence and the Hillsboro Police Department. It was prosecuted by Gary Sussman, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

This case was brought in collaboration with Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney's Offices and DOJ's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.