Texas Border Business
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas
McALLEN, Texas – A 39-year-old citizen of Mexico who had been living in Dublin, Ireland, is set to appear in McAllen federal court for production of child pornography.
Abelardo Sanchez is set for an arraignment and detention hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Juan F. Alanis at 2 p.m.
Austrian authorities arrested Sanchez in December 2025. He was extradited June 5 and made his initial appearance June 8 in McAllen.
According to the indictment, returned Oct. 28, 2025, Sanchez had an online account that contained child sexual abuse material, some of which appeared to be self-produced and dated back to 2014. The investigation led to the identification of the minor victim who had resided in Texas at the time Sanchez produced the images, according to the charges.
Sanchez had allegedly been living in Dublin, Ireland, since 2024 before traveling to Austria where he was ultimately arrested on the charges.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations in The Hague and Vienna conducted the investigation with assistance of HSI in McAllen and Dublin, Ireland, as well as international law enforcement partners. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of Sanchez.
If convicted, Sanchez faces a minimum of 25 and up to 50 years in federal prison as well as a possible $250,000 maximum fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Alexis Garcia is prosecuting the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative the Department of Justice launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section leads PSC, which marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identifies and rescues victims. For more information about PSC, please visit DOJ’s PSC page. For more information about internet safety education, please visit the resources tab on that page.
Updated June 10, 2026
