SAN ANTONIO – A 48-year-old man was arrested on a charge of online solicitation of a minor following a weekslong undercover investigation by federal and local authorities.
Aurelio Benjamin Cerella, 48, was taken into custody as he left his workplace, where he is employed as an aircraft mechanic for a major aviation company in the county.
The case was investigated jointly by the U.S. Secret Service and the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Human Exploitation Unit. Authorities said they received a tip several weeks ago that Cerella was communicating online with someone he believed to be a minor.
An undercover investigator posed as a 16-year-old girl and began communicating with Cerella, who used the username “proudbears,” Bexar County Sheriff Jazier Salazar said. The conversations quickly became sexually explicit, and Cerella is accused of sending indecent images of himself, including photos of his genitalia, to the undercover officer.
Investigators obtained an arrest warrant charging Cerella with online solicitation of a minor, a third-degree felony. He was arrested without incident, Salazar said.
Authorities also executed a search warrant at Cerella’s residence in northwest Bexar County, where they seized items of evidentiary interest.
Salazar said the suspect used two online platforms that are not widely known and declined to identify them. He said the platforms are not commonly recognized by the general public.
“The average parent would likely never have heard of these platforms,” Salazar said.
The investigation remains ongoing. Cerella’s case will be referred for prosecution.