Modesto man pleads guilty to sexually exploiting children. He faces up to 30 years in jail

A Modesto man who used social media accounts to coerce and threaten young girls pleaded guilty to five federal counts of sexual exploitation of a minor on Monday, according to the United States Department of Justice.

Daniel Vincent Salazar Jr., 28, used Snapchat and Instagram to coerce several girls into sending him sexually explicit photos and videos and then threatened to send these images to classmates, family and friends if they didn’t send more.

The case against Salazar Jr. began when the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office got a complaint from a 14-year-old girl’s parents and the principal of her school in December 2018. The girl told her teacher that she received lewd messages from an Instagram account, prompting an investigation that led to the discovery of other victims, according to court documents.

Court documents show that at least two of the four victims listed in the criminal complaint are Stanislaus County residents, with one being from San Jose. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the San Jose Police Department assisted the Sheriff’s Office in pinning Salazar Jr. as the suspect.

Search warrants on Salazar Jr.’s Instagram and Snapchat accounts led authorities to track down the device and IP addresses he was using, which were either registered to him or to a family member. Authorities also identified him by his tattoos, which were visible in several of the sexually explicit images he sent.

Salazar faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years but could serve a maximum of 30 in federal prison in addition to fines up to $250,000 and restitution to the victims. He also faces a possible lifetime of supervised release. The sentence will be determined by a judge on Jan. 13, 2025.

The case was conducted by the Sheriff’s Office, FBI, SJPD and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gappa is prosecuting the case.

The investigation was part of Project Safe Childhood , a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.