Evergreen Reporter

Chief United States District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan has sentenced Henry Obdulio Cordon, a 39-year-old resident of Antioch, California, to 30 years in federal prison for producing a photo depicting the sexual abuse of a 3-year-old child. Cordon is also required to serve a life term of supervised release and register as a sex offender. He was arrested at his home on May 16, 2019, and has remained in custody since then. Cordon entered a guilty plea on June 14, 2024.

The investigation began in April 2019 when an internet service provider sent CyberTipline reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). These reports were linked to child sexual abuse photos found within an email account geolocated to Contra Costa County, California. Authorities obtained search warrants that revealed the email account and associated phone number belonged to Cordon. The account contained several photos showing children being sexually abused.

Further investigations showed another email account used by Cordon had a photo of a young child being sexually abused by an adult male. Metadata from this photo indicated it was taken on July 11, 2011, using a Blackberry device. Search warrants confirmed this email account's use at Cordon’s California apartment during April and May 2019.

On May 16, 2019, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Cordon’s residence. During questioning, Cordon admitted searching the internet for “nude teen pictures” and acknowledged having owned a Blackberry device while living in Florida years earlier. Confronted with evidence from his email account showing the sexual abuse of a child he knew who was "maybe" under four years old, Cordon confessed to taking the photo with his Blackberry in Florida and emailing it to himself.

Authorities verified that the photo depicting the abuse was taken by Cordon in Florida before he emailed it to himself. This image was also found on his iPhone seized in California on May 16, 2019. Law enforcement officials identified both the child's age and residence where the abuse occurred.

The case involved several agencies: Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force of Contra Costa County (California), Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department, Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown prosecuted the case.

This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood—a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse through collaboration between federal, state, and local resources.