CHICAGO — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Illinois, Northern), published as received.
CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago man has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for taking dozens of sexually explicit photographs of a three-year-old child.
MARCOS GERMAN MENDEZ, 35, of Rosemont, Ill., pleaded guilty earlier this year to a federal child pornography charge. U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland imposed the sentence Wednesday after a hearing in federal court in Chicago.
Mendez admitted in a plea agreement that on two occasions in 2015 he took more than 60 sexually explicit photographs of the child and molested her while she appeared to be sleeping. Mendez saved the images on his iPhone, and in 2016 he fled to Mexico. He was later arrested and extradited to the United States.
The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and R. Sean Fitzgerald, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of Homeland Security Investigations. Valuable assistance was provided by HSI’s Mexico City office; FBI Chicago Field Office; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Postal Service; Cook County Sheriff’s Office; and U.S. Marshals Service. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Misty N. Wright.
If you believe you are a victim of sexual exploitation, you are encouraged to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by logging on to www.missingkids.com or by calling 1-800-843-5678. The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
