Honk News – A Lubbock federal court told a Plainview man, 25, that he was “lucky to be alive” after he was caught in her bedroom last year by the father of the 15-year-old with whom he was having sex.
After Luis Alexander Cordero acknowledged recording his sex with the girl during their nearly four-month relationship, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix sentenced him to 25 years in prison.
After entering a guilty plea in December to a count of production and attempted production of child pornography, Cordero, who has been detained at the Lubbock County Detention Center since October 17, 2024, appeared before Hendrix on March 13 for a punishment hearing.
The penalty for the offense is from 15 to 30 years in jail.
The court was given a recommendation of 30 years to life in prison, with a 30-year maximum, based on a presentencing report that took into account the offense and his criminal history.
But in the case of child sexual assault, Hendrix determined that Cordero’s criminal history—which included misdemeanor DWI and larceny counts—did not apply.
“Obviously, I take the crime here very seriously,” he stated.
According to the revised rules, Cordero may face a sentence of 292–365 months in jail.
On February 14, 2024, a 15-year-old girl’s mother and sister told authorities that her father had discovered him in her bedroom, which prompted a Plainview authorities investigation that led to his charge.
Cordero jumped out of the window to escape while the girl’s father contacted the police.
A 33-second video that the child’s mother discovered on her daughter’s phone showed Cordero having sex with the girl, which she then showed to the police. When Cordero glances down on the lens, his face may be seen in the footage.
According to the girl, she started dating Cordero in September 2023. She claimed that when she was 15 and he was 23, they connected on Facebook.
Nevertheless, correspondence between the two revealed that when they started corresponding online on October 6, 2023, the girl informed Cordero that she was 14.
“The child was unequivocal that she was 14,” prosecutor Stephen Rancourt stated in the courtroom during the hearing.
Shortly after, Cordero had a sexual experience with the girl, which he filmed.
When Cordero was examined by authorities outside his house on March 6, 2024, he first denied knowing the girl. Later, he claimed to have known her under a different identity after messaging her on Facebook, where she informed him that she was 17 years old and soon to turn 18.
Despite Cordero’s insistence that he never had intercourse with the girl, he eventually confessed to the crime after the officer showed him the footage of his face on the girl’s phone.
Cordero asked if he could go inside and present the footage to the authorities during the interrogation, stating that it might be on another phone in his home rather than the phone he was carrying.
But he changed his tale again and acknowledged that the footage was on his phone when the officer requested him to leave it with them while he went inside.
With Cordero’s permission, the officers searched the phone and discovered numerous images and videos that Cordero had taken of the interactions.
David Martinez, Cordero’s lawyer, argued that his client’s substance abuse problems were the primary cause of his violation and requested a sentence in the lower range of the guidelines.
“I believe he would not have engaged in this conduct if he had not been using drugs,” he stated.
After completing his term, he stated that he thought his client might still contribute to society.
Martinez’s reasoning was referred to by Rancourt as “hogwash.”
“This was not a singular, temporary lapse in judgement,” he stated. “Cocaine does not make someone want to have sex with a child.”
According to him, the evidence demonstrated that Cordero knew his acts were wrong but nonetheless carried them out.
He claimed that Cordero, who has a daughter of six years old, would rather be “fornicating with a child” than raise his daughter to be a decent person.
Hendrix informed Cordero that he concurred with the prosecution that drug use was not the reason behind his behavior.
He informed Cordero, “It’s hard to overstate the seriousness of his offense.” “Using cocaine does not result in the creation of child pornography. That behavior is totally inappropriate.
In Hale County, Cordero is also charged with child sexual assault. As a second-degree felony, the offense carries a sentence of two to twenty years in jail.