Former Texas deputy sentenced to 32 years for luring young girls on Minecraft, exploiting them

Before getting a 32-year prison sentence, a former Texas deputy admitted to using Minecraft to lure young girls and exploit them sexually for years.

Pasquale Salas, 29, appeared in front of US District Judge Jeffrey Brown on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty June 6 to producing and possessing child pornography. For years, Salas used his Matagorda County deputy badge to threaten young girls into “sending hundreds of sexually explicit photos and videos”, David Martinez, FBI Houston special agent in charge, said in a Justice Department news release.

The federal investigation into Salas began in 2019 when a girl from Massachusetts told authorities that she met him in 2014 through Minecraft’s multiplayer mode when she was 12, according to the US Attorney’s Office. He met her and another young girl online while masquerading as a 21-year-old user named “Gino”, court records stated.

Throughout the years, Salas would control, manipulate and sexually exploit the then-12-year-old girl, the release said. The former deputy knew the girl’s actual age but continued to harass and take advantage of her until she was 17. Tracking her location, Salas threatened the girl and her family, forcing her to send him hundreds of nude photos and videos of herself, the US Attorney’s Office said. He also made her and another girl send videos and images to his online friends.

Referring to himself as “daddy”, Salas made the young girl follow rules, including not speaking to boys without his permission and what she could wear, court records stated.

FBI Texas City officers executed a search warrant in July 2019 and found videos and images of several young girls being sexually abused on his phone, including graphic material involving a minor relative, the release stated. Forensic evidence and victim interviews determined that he produced the images and videos of the relative.

In addition to the sentence, Salas will serve 15 years on supervised release following the completion of his incarceration, according to the release. During that time, he will have to register as a sex offender and abide by court-ordered requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the Internet.

Salas will remain in custody pending transfer to a US Bureau of Prisons facility that will be decided in the near future. – The Houston Chronicle/Tribune News Service