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HOUSTON - A Pearland resident has been sentenced to decades in prison for soliciting sexually explicit videos and images of minors.
Andrew Joel Galvan pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of minors as well as the receipt and possession of child pornography and will serve 40 years in prison.
On Thursday, a U.S. District Judge sentenced Galvan to 30 years on each count of child exploitation to run concurrently. He will also serve a combined 10 years for the child sexual abuse material.
Galvan will also have to serve 10 years on supervised release after the end of his prison term and comply with requirements restricting his access to the Internet. He will be placed on the sex offender registry.
According to the United States Attorney's Office, in April 2020, the mother of an 8-year-old child reached out to law enforcement after finding sexually explicit chats between her daughter and an unknown person on Instagram. The person was later identified as Galvan, who solicited nude photos from the minor, authorities say.
Law enforcement secured a search warrant for his Instagram account and found numerous conversations between him and several children.
During the hearing, the court heard how Galvan reached out to 10 separate prepubescent girls, all under the age of 12. He admitted to portraying himself as a young teenager and targeted girls between the ages of 8 and 13.
Galvan requested them to send nude photos and videos of themselves to him, in one instance telling the minor how to position herself. He also admitted to sending photos of his genitals to his victims.
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A forensic exam was conducted on Galvan’s electronic devices, which found 7,500 images and 650 videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Galvan remains in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility which will be determined soon.