Columbia County man sentenced to almost 30 years for producing child sexual abuse materials

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. — Hector Salazar Torres, of Grovetown, was sentenced to 325 months in prison after pleading guilty to producing child sexual abuse materials, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a news release.

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According to the news release, court documents and testimony revealed Grovetown police seized Torres’s phone while investigating a reported sexual assault of a child.

The FBI found dozens of pictures and videos of child sexual abuse, including a video of a toddler. Investigators determined Torres produced the video after matching an image in the video to a scar on his hand.

Torres also faces state prosecution on child molestation charges involving victims unrelated to the federal case.

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“The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is an absolutely horrific offense,” Matthew Ploskunak, Senior Supervisory Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta’s Augusta office, said in the news release. “Torres’s sentence will give him plenty of time to think about his unacceptable behavior, but more importantly while in prison, he won’t be able to harm any more children.”

Torres was also ordered by the judge to pay $9,600 in restitution, register as a sex offender, and serve 20 years of supervised release upon completion of his prison sentence.

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