A “Department of Justice” sign is seen on the wall of the US Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C.
Warning: the details in this story are disturbing.
A 27-year-old Pennsylvania man whose “stomach-churning” acts of child pornography production, distribution and sexual abuse ended up alerting federal authorities to at least two other sex offenders has been sentenced to 55 years in prison.
In addition to the 55 years behind bars, Philadelphia’s Justyn Perez-Colon was also sentenced to lifetime supervised release, which would come into play if he manages to outlive his decades-long prison sentence. The details in the complaint that was filed against Perez-Colon in February 2018 are, indeed, stomach-churning.
Urging people to reach out to him via the Kik messaging app at his “crazycock213” username, Perez-Colon posted an advertisement in the “Casual Encounters section of the Philadelphia Craigslist site” touting his “real incest stories,” “fetish stories,” “underage pedo stories,” and “real experiences and pictures.”
Perez-Colon said he enjoyed “talkin to [people] about their fantasies.” One of the people to reach out to him was an undercover FBI agent. The following excerpt of their back-and-forth barely scratches the surfaces of the depravity:
February 5, 2017:OCE [Online Covert Employee]: hey man, saw your post on CL looking for sick pervs. What sort of stuff you into?Perez-Colon: Incest kids and a lot moreFebruary 6, 2017:OCE: same here. Boys, girls, or both? How young you like?Perez-Colon: both and 1-8OCE: nice. I’m more into boys, but don’t mind girls. I kinda prefer 5 and up. You got any experience
Perez-Colon then described his experience in graphic detail and even sent photo exposing himself to a toddler—and more. Per the Department of Justice in a press release on the 55-year sentence:
This federal investigation began in February 2018, when Perez-Colon posted an advertisement on Craigslist seeking to connect with other child sex offenders to trade stories and child pornography. An undercover FBI agent responded to his posting. During their communications over the next few days, the defendant admitted to sexually abusing a young family member for years, and also confessed that he was currently sexually abusing a young girl in his care. The defendant sent photographs and video of him sexually abusing the one-year old girl, including images of his horrific abuse of this child was she was sleeping.On February 14, 2018, within 24-hours of receiving the pornographic images of Perez-Colon’s abuse of the child, the Federal Bureau of Investigation identified and arrested him. His cell phone was also seized and examined, and found to contain additional videos of Perez-Colon sexually abusing the 1-year-old girl, in addition to evidence that he was also sexually exploiting a different toddler with whom the defendant had a personal relationship.
At the time, Perez-Colon was homeless and staying at a hotel with his ex-girlfriend and her daughter at a Days Inn in Horsham, Pennsylvania.
The complaint said that the woman “had no knowledge that PEREZ-COLON was taking pictures of her daughter” and that she “did not leave her daughter alone with PEREZ-COLON except when she was showering.” The woman “verbally consented to the search of her cellphone, which revealed no sexually explicit images or videos of her daughter, and no indication of the use of the Kik application.”
According to authorities, Perez-Colon was read his Miranda rights and then admitted he distributed sexually explicit “images and videos to at least four individuals, including at least three via Kik using his iPhone.”
The DOJ said that federal agents acted quickly on this information and found two other sex offenders who have since been prosecuted and convicted. One of those was former associate director of campus ministry official at Villanova University; the other was a college student at a different school:
The subsequent investigation by the FBI revealed that the defendant not only sexually abused and exploited the two toddler victims, but he also distributed their images and videos out over the Internet to other child sex offenders for their sexual gratification. The FBI identified Timothy O’Connell, a Villanova University Campus Minister, and Michael Meacham, a West Chester University student, both of whom communicated online with the defendant, and requested and received sexually explicit images from him. Both of these child sex offenders were prosecuted and pleaded guilty to federal charges of receipt of child pornography. O’Connell was sentenced in November 2019 to 6 ½ years in prison. Meacham is awaiting the imposition of his sentence.
The DOJ said that Perez-Colon pleaded guilty to a lengthy list of federal sex offenses in Sept. 2019.
Bradley S. Benavides, the FBI’s Acting Special Agent in Charge in Philadelphia, said in a statement that the “criminal acts to which Justyn Perez-Colon admitted are stomach-churning.”
“He sexually abused two toddlers, documenting and sharing images of that exploitation. It was imperative that the FBI swiftly take him off the street,” Benavides added. “Unequivocally, our community is safer with Perez-Colon behind bars, locked away where he can’t victimize anyone else’s child.”
[Image via CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images]