OCALA — A 32-year-old Venezuelan national is facing a federal indictment charging him with attempted production of child sexual abuse material after he allegedly solicited explicit content from what he believed was a 13-year-old girl — who was actually an undercover Homeland Security Investigations special agent.
Yoandris Jose Ruiz Bello was charged by federal indictment and faces a minimum penalty of 15 years and up to 30 years in federal prison if convicted, U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced. Ruiz Bello is currently detained pending the resolution of the case.
According to the indictment and evidence presented in court, Ruiz Bello on Aug. 21, 2024, asked the person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl to produce a sexually explicit video of herself and send it to him. He was in fact communicating with an HSI special agent operating in an undercover capacity.
The case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Janette Swartzberg in the Middle District of Florida.
The prosecution was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The program marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty. Ruiz Bello remains in federal custody ahead of further court proceedings in the Middle District of Florida.