Source: United States Department of Justice News
Miami, Florida – A Port Saint Lucie man who in 2018-2019 sexually abused a non-verbal, autistic child has been sentenced to 360 months in federal prison. Earlier this year, Ethan Alexander Concepcion, 24, pled guilty in West Palm Beach federal court to production of child pornography.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) learned about Concepcion’s abuse of the child after being contacted in January 2022 by the Queensland Police Service, a law enforcement agency in Australia. They reported to HSI that they had prosecuted an individual in Australia who had received by email approximately two dozen child sex abuse images and videos from someone using an IP address located in Greenacres, Florida. In some of the images, the child was holding a sign that read, “For Mr. Plextor.” Authorities believed that “Mr. Plextor” was a reference to the recipient of the images in Australia. Metadata from the images revealed that Concepcion likely abused the child on at least four occasions from March 2018 to January 2019. The child was 5-6 years old at the time. Agents traced the IP address to Concepcion’s residence. On March 10, 2022, Concepcion confessed to abusing the child.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge, HSI Miami Field Office, announced the sentence imposed by United States District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks yesterday.
HSI Miami (West Palm Beach office) investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dispoto prosecuted it.
This 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 the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 22-cr-80043.
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