Colorado man convicted in Maryland for sexually abusing child with wife in Mexico

MARYLAND (WBFF) — A Colorado man was convicted in Maryland for sexually abusing a child with his wife while in Mexico, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Alekzander Quinn Bywater, 32, who formerly resided in Colorado Springs, was found guilty of conspiracy to produce visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct outside the U.S., sexual exploitation of a minor, and distribution of child sexual abuse material and advertising child sexual abuse material, officials reported.

“Alekzander Bywater left the United States for Mexico and preyed upon the most vulnerable among us, a young child,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva in a press release. “Child exploitative hands-on violations are among the most depraved. This defendant and his wife, Anika, perpetrated this heinous crime together, and even tried to profit off their conduct. This case is core to the Criminal Division’s mission of hunting down child predators and removing them from society.”

Court documents and information provided from the trial revealed that while in Mexico, Bywater and his wife, Anika, 29, created videos of them sexually abusing a child.

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In January 2024, Bywater agreed to create two videos on two separate occasions that showed him and his wife abusing the minor victim, and officers learned the videos were circulating on the internet, the press release said.

One of the videos was publicly available and advertised for sale, and on February 6 and 7 2024, an undercover FBI agent in Maryland purchased and downloaded the videos.

FBI agents then recovered both videos from a desktop and laptop.

These devices also contained a different video of Bywater sexually abusing the same child, along with thousands of images and videos depicting the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, according to the report.

“This guilty verdict holds this defendant accountable for the horrific abuse of a child and for his role in distributing videos that documented that abuse. Mr. Bywater’s depraved actions cost him his freedom, so now he’ll be separated from society where he can’t harm other children,” Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for Maryland, said in a press release.

In March 2026, Bywater’s wife, Anika Bywater, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to charges in December 2025.

Alekzander Bywater faces up to 150 years in federal prison for these crimes.