Man who pretended to be a 12-year-old girl to trade child porn sentenced to 40 years

MIRAMAR — Behind the screen, it was Andres Camilo Ruiz. But to the minors he sent child pornography to and exploited from, Ruiz was a 12-year-old girl named “June,” court records say.

From November 2018 through May 2019, Ruiz, 31, of Miramar, used several social media platforms under the false identity of a 12-year-old girl to bait children across the country to send him videos depicting child pornography, federal prosecutors said.

Ruiz was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison and a lifetime on supervised release for producing child pornography, enticement of a minor and possession and distribution of child pornography. He will also pay restitution to his victims, prosecutors said.

The case began when FBI Miami investigators discovered that a Kik account with the user name “juninhopermano,” with an IP address associated with an AT&T customer in Miramar, sent an image depicting child pornography, according to court records.

In May 2019, Ruiz admitted to law enforcement officers that he used his phone to send and receive child pornography but refused to let officers search his phone, court records say. Once officials obtained a warrant to search his phone, they found he traded videos and photos with several minor girls on social media platforms including Kik, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Cheez.

Ruiz coerced one minor victim in April 2018 to send him sexually explicit videos by sending a sexually explicit video of another minor girl and sent a text message saying, “make a video like mine please,” court records say. Ruiz messaged over 500 times with the 12-year-old victim for almost a year.

Court records mention three other victims who were contacted by Ruiz under the guise of “June,” using the same tactic to trick the minors. One victim was 8 years old.

Prosecutors said Ruiz exploited more than 50 children. More than 1,100 images and videos of child pornography were found on his phone and cloud account, prosecutors said.