Man convicted of sexually assaulting preschooler: ‘I did what I did’

Big Spring, Texas – A 25-year-old Big Spring, Texas, man who hid photos of himself sexually assaulting preschoolers in what appeared to be a calculator app on his cell phone has been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison.

According to court documents, the investigation began when Barreto’s ex-girlfriend alerted police that she had seen Internet searches for child pornography on his phone. She told officers that when she confronted him, Barreto admitted to using cryptocurrency to purchase child sexual abuse images and said “age didn’t matter to him.”

Forensic investigators searched the phone and found hundreds of photos and at least 30 videos of adult men sexually abusing children, including infants. They also found a storage application disguised as a calculator in which Barreto hid videos of him sexually abusing four- and five-year-old girls.

“I mean, I can’t deny it,” he said when confronted by officers. “I did what I did.”

“My little girl seemed to have been more withdrawn and sensitive… she was having nightmares,” the mother of one victim said in a statement entered into the record at sentencing. “These acts he committed are a monster, and I believe he is one in the truest form.”

Humberto Barreto Jr. was indicted in January and pleaded guilty in June to two counts of producing child pornography. He was sentenced last Thursday by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix to 30 years in prison on each count and 60 years in prison overall and was ordered to register as a sex offender.