St. Lucie County - Friday May 10, 2024: A St. Lucie County man pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to production of visual depictions of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Between November 2022 and January 2023, Luis Escoto, 28, engaged in sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old when he was about 26 or 27 years old in St. Lucie and Martin counties. Escoto recorded the sexual interactions with the minor victim using his cellphone and convinced the victim to send him sexually explicit pictures through text messages and communication platforms. In February 2023, Martin County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested Escoto.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 2, before U.S. District Judge David S. Liebowitz in Fort Pierce. Escoto faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison, followed by up to a lifetime of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami,and Sheriff William D. Snyder of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office announced the guilty plea.
HSI Fort Pierce and the Martin County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney Carmen Lineberger is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.
For more information about the Project Safe Childhood initiative and for information regarding Internet safety, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.