Portales man pleads guilty

PORTALES — A Portales man, in an agreement in federal court, has pleaded guilty to production of child pornography.

Augustin Gallegos, 37, faces 18 to 23 years in prison when he is sentenced in January, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Alexander M.M. Uballez. Gallegos must also register as a sex offender.

Court records show from about March 2018 to May 2019 Gallegos “knowingly persuaded, induced, enticed and coerced a child, identified as Jane Doe, approximately nine years old,” to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography.

The news release also said Gallegos engaged in sexual acts with the victim and photographed the acts. The images were later located on a memory card inside a digital camera.

State charges against Gallegos were dismissed by Uballez.

The case was investigated by the Roswell office of the FBI with assistance from the Texico and Portales police departments and the Ninth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

The United States Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat “the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.”