Former U.S. Military man pleads guilty to sexually exploiting a child in Maryland

MARYLAND (WBFF) — A 32-year-old man pled guilty to sexually exploiting a child while in the U.S. military, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Daniel Lara-Salazar faces a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for the sexual exploitation of a child and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a lifetime as a sex offender.

Officials reported that from June 2024 through July 2024, Lara-Salazar, stationed in Puyallup, Washington, coerced and enticed a minor female victim from Maryland.

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Lara-Salaza would engage in sexually explicit conduct and exploit the victim by producing and facilitating the creation of sexually explicit images and videos, according to his guilty plea.

In June 2024, Lara-Salaza would message the victim on Snapchat and demand the victim send sexually explicit images and videos to him.

Authorities noted that Snapchat has a feature that causes images to disappear, and that in some instances, the victim sent images to Lara-Salazar that were not retained or visible when police reviewed the account.

Later on in the investigation, authorities discovered that Lara-Salaza used Snapchat to talk to three other minor females, and he also coerced and enticed them to send sexually explicit photos.