Aguadilla Man Indicted and Arrested for Child Exploitation

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging Aaron Scott Byrns, 46, of Aguadilla, with child exploitation.

According to court documents, from Dec. 15, 2023, through on or about April 15, 2024, Byrns, used a cellphone to produce and attempt to produce images of girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct, to include the lascivious exhibition of the genital area. The defendant captured and attempted to capture these images of the girls’ private areas without their consent on a federal school campus.

Byrns is facing one count of production of child pornography, one count of possession of child pornography and one count of video voyeurism.

The defendant had his initial court appearance May 24 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Giselle Lopez-Soler of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto. The detention and bail hearing is scheduled for May 30. If convicted for the charges of production of child pornography, the defendant faces up to 30 years in prison; for possession of child pornography, he faces up to 10 years. Both are followed by a term of supervised release of no less than five years and up to life. For video voyeurism he faces up to one year in prison followed by up to one year of supervised release. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Juan Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Gonzalez-Ramos, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico W. Stephen Muldrow and FBI San Juan Special Agent in Charge Joseph Gonzalez made the announcement.

The FBI and HSI are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Emelina Agrait Barreto of the Child Exploitation and Immigration Unit is prosecuting the case.

For more information about HSI’s efforts to protect children from online sexual abuse, visit Know2Protect. To report suspicious activities, call the HSI Tip Line at 877-4-HSI-TIP.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. attorneys’ offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.