CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A Southeast Texas man who produced pornographic images of himself abusing toddlers was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison Monday.

This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Corpus Christi, Texas, with assistance from the Corpus Christi Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Gerardo Fabian Ramos, 41, and of Corpus Christi, was further ordered to register as a sex offender and to serve the rest of his life on supervised release following completion of his prison term. While on supervised release, Ramos will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. Ramos pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to producing child pornography.

At the hearing, the court heard Ramos produced images of himself sexually assaulting two toddlers on multiple occasions. He also drugged their mother to facilitate his crimes. The court also heard from the mother who read a letter explaining how the crime impacted their lives. The father also provided testimony.

In imposing the sentence, Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack noted how horrified she was for these children and their families and stated that she did not believe there was any sentence long enough to protect the community from Ramos.

“Sometimes there is no remedy to right a wrong,” said Jack. “This is one of those times.”

In March 2019, NCMEC sent a tip to local law enforcement indicating a Corpus Christi user had uploaded an image of child pornography to a popular social media platform. Ramos was that user.

Law enforcement ultimately found hundreds of videos and still images of child pornography in his possession. Authorities also discovered several images and videos of child pornography Ramos had produced himself and attempted to identify those victims. Some of the images and videos depicted Ramos attempting to vaginally penetrate the victims with his penis.

Ramos will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittany L. Jensen prosecuted the case.