WASHINGTON (KFOX14/CBS4) — A former El Paso soldier pleaded guilty to child porn charges– including using AI to create pornography using innocent images of children he knew personally.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, on Wednesday, former Army soldier Seth Herrera, 36, pleaded guilty to child exploitation crimes he committed while living in El Paso and then moving to Alaska.
According to court documents, Herrera allegedly used encrypted messaging applications and network applications to find, receive, and download child sexual abuse material over the course of multiple years beginning in 2021 in El Paso.
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Herrera is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 29.
According to the DOJ, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence, with the minimum being 15 years and the maximum 20 years in prison.
Herrera’s crimes
According to court documents, beginning in March 2021, Herrera started using multiple encrypted and/or privacy-enhancing applications on his cellphones to explore the dark web to look for material showing child sexual abuse.
The documents stated that Herrera joined hundreds of online groups on apps like Telegram dedicated to sharing child pornography, even some involving incest and animals.
In May 2024, when authorities seized Herrera’s electronic devices, they said they found tens of thousands of videos and images showing boys and girls from ages infant through pubescent in “sadistic and masochistic” content.
Besides downloading and sharing child pornography online, court documents show Herrera attempted to make his own.
Court documents break down a timeline showing that first, in March 2021, Herrera recorded the children secretly in El Paso, then, in December 2022, using AI programs, Herrera made explicit content using those secret photos and videos to create explicit content.
The documents note that some of the kids, who were recorded using security cameras around Herrera’s home, were kids he knew personally.
Herrera’s crimes then crossed state lines when, in August 2023, Herrera moved to Alaska with the child porn files stored on his phones.
Herrera faces justice
On Aug. 23, 2024, Herrera was arrested at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, where he served as a Specialist, after a federal grand jury indicted him on transportation, receipt and possession of child pornography.
On May 14, 2025, a grand jury in the Western District of Texas indicted Herrera on production and receipt of child pornography related to his conduct in El Paso.
Herrera entered his plea under a global plea agreement after the Western District of Texas transferred their case to the District of Alaska on June 15, 2026.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Army Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case.
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The DOJ said the case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, arrest and prosecute people who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.
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