ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico man was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in federal prison following his guilty plea to child pornography charges.

This investigation was conducted by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Las Cruces (New Mexico) Police Department assisted with this investigation.

John Henry Bevel Jr., 44, from Las Cruces, was also ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution to one of his victims.

Bevel pleaded guilty to the following criminal charges: advertising visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct; and distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography.

In Bevel’s plea agreement, he admitted using a messaging application on his cellphone between Oct. 17 and Oct. 18, 2017, to communicate with another person about receiving and exchanging videos and photographs of minors engaged in sexual activity. Bevel also admitted sending child pornography over a messaging application on Sept. 25, 2017. In addition, he admitted possessing child pornography in an online storage account on Sept. 24, 2017. Bevel previously lived in Albuquerque.

“Child exploitation investigations are one of HSI’s highest priorities, because the perpetrators steal the innocence of the most vulnerable in our communities, ” said Erik P. Breitzke, acting special agent in charge of HSI El Paso. “We will continue to work with our federal, state and local partners to identify, arrest and prosecute these predators and hold them accountable for their heinous crimes.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa A. Ong of the Las Cruces Branch Office of the District of New Mexico prosecuted this case.