Surprise dirtbag!!! It took a determined FBI agent and a mother in Utah seeking justice for her son to finally catch a pedophile who filmed one of the most widely distributed pieces of child pornography on the Internet before fleeing the country. Antonio Cardenas was sentenced last week to 35 years in prison on child sex abuse-related charges. Getting there, however, required good timing and a trap that was certain to lure Cardenas back to the United States: an invitation to a child’s surprise birthday party Cardenas, 32, first came into contact with the boy in 2004 as his mentor through Big Brother Big Sisters of Utah. The child’s family trusted Cardenas, inviting him on their outings and even allowing him to take the boy to Las Vegas. When Cardenas moved back to Mexico, he still kept in touch through emails and phone calls, The Tribune reported. Unbeknown to the family, the child was being preyed upon. Cardenas had raped him repeatedly and filmed the abuse, prosecutors said, with images and video of it spreading quickly online. The boy tried to tell his school that Cardenas had shown him dirty movies in 2008, but later recanted, The Tribune reported. In June 2009, the child films produced by Cardenas reached Ross’ attention and he began investigating. Identifying the child seemed impossible, although a computer forensics team was able to determine the abuse was taking place in Utah and Las Vegas because of clues in the video’s background. It wasn’t until that October when Ross said he caught a break: FBI agents investigating a child-film ring found a Missouri man who posted Cardenas’ films online, and he knew the name of the victim and who filmed the images, according to The Tribune. Ross tracked down the boy, who at that point was age 12, and learned the back story. He also knew that Cardenas had returned to Mexico. Ross was able to convince the mother of the boy to invite Cardenas to a fake surprise party in honor of her son’s birthday in January 2010. Cardenas even paid someone $2,500 to help smuggle him back into the United States so he could make the festivities, The Tribune reported. The agents nabbed him once he was in Utah and on his way to the family’s home. “We had him in custody thanks in large part to mom’s ability to keep her cool and play this script we had written out,” Ross told The Tribune. This sicko really was trying to get for his victim’s birthday party, now the only “fun” he’ll be having will be in in the clink. Source
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To Catch A Predator: Wanted Pedophile Popped After FBI Tricks Him To Attend Children’s Birthday Party
