PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Portland man was sentenced to 15 years for exploiting 2 young children using the app now known as TikTok.
Juan Carlos Ramon began communicating with 2 children through the app called “music.ly,” which has since evolved into the increasingly popular TikTok. The 33-year-old was first in contact with the children, ages 6 and 8, around June 28, 2017. He would urge them to play a “Simon Says” type game in which he would send sexually explicit photos of a female child and then ask his victims to take and send photos of themselves imitating whatever was depicted.
A relative of the victims discovered the messages after the victims had sent photos of themselves.
Ramon was arrested on November 16, 2017. He admitted to chatting with and requesting pornographic photos from girls ages 10-13. He pleaded guilty to two counts of production of child pornography nearly 2 years later, on May 22, 2019.
During the investigation, it was discovered that Ramon spent many years working in education, non-profit programming and even family services.
Ramon was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison followed by a life term of supervised release.
If anyone has any information about the physical or online exploitation of children, please call the FBI at 503.224.4181.
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