Inland Empire Man Who Teaches at San Bernardino Middle School Arrested on Federal Child Pornography

A Fontana man is expected to make his initial court appearance late this afternoon after being charged today with federal child pornography offenses for allegedly uploading explicit images to the internet.

         Josue Gamaliel Vidal Quintanilla, 28, who teaches mathematics at Shandin Hills Middle School in San Bernardino, was arrested Wednesday morning by authorities during the execution of a search warrant at his residence.

         According to a federal criminal complaint filed today, Vidal was arrested after he admitted using various online platforms to send, receive and possess child pornography. Evidence obtained by agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and officers with the Fontana Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force indicates that Vidal used Kik Messenger and Snapchat for the past year to transmit child pornography.

         Vidal also admitted he posed as a minor boy on the internet and solicited “many” minors – some as young as 10 years old – to engage in sexually explicit behavior in online meetings that took place as recently as Tuesday night, according to the affidavit in support of the complaint.

         “A preliminary search of Vidal’s Toshiba laptop revealed approximately 20 image files depicting the sexual exploitation of children, as well as multiple video files with titles indicative of child pornography,” according to the affidavit by an HSI special agent. “Similarly, I conducted a preliminary review of online accounts that Vidal consented for me to search, and I found communications that Vidal engaged in where he sent and received child pornography images and videos as well as sent hyperlinks to downloadable child pornography videos.”

A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

         The criminal complaint charges Vidal with one count of transportation of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. If convicted of these two charges, Vidal would face a statutory maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison. Additionally, the transportation count carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in federal prison.

         The ongoing investigation in this case is being conducted by HSI and the Fontana Police Department. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department provided substantial assistance in this investigation.

         This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sonah Lee of the Riverside Branch Office.