A convicted sex offender was sentenced Friday to eight years and 10 months in prison for paying a 16-year-old girl to send him sexually explicit photos of herself on social media.
Jose Alberto Herrera Rea, 29, of Woodland pleaded guilty on June 9 to one count each of first-degree dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and communication with a minor for immoral purposes. He originally faced another charge of commercial sex abuse of a minor, according to court records.
Clark County Superior Court Judge David Gregerson sentenced Herrera Rea above the agreed-upon sentencing recommendation of 87 months. He said he was concerned “about safety and predation and impulsivity” because the charges in this case were months after he was released from jail for a previous case.
Herrera Rea could also face a 57 month sentence in Cowlitz County for violating the terms of that suspended sentence. Court records show in 2018 he was granted a special sex offender sentencing alternative in a 2016 case there that allowed him to serve his sentence out of custody while completing a sexual-deviancy treatment program.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Herrera Rea has multiple convictions for third-degree rape of a child and possession of depictions of a minor.
Herrera Rea started communicating with a 15-year-old girl around October 2018, first through Instagram chat and then on Snapchat once he convinced her to provide her username, according to the affidavit. Investigators allege that Herrera Rea used video messaging on Snapchat to avoid having a text message trail.
The girl turned 16 in 2019 and posted about it numerous times on Snapchat. She told investigators it would be nearly impossible for Herrera Rea not to know her age, according to the affidavit. Herrera Rea’s attorney told Judge Gregerson on Friday that the girl told Herrera Rea that she was 18.
In April 2019, Herrera Rea began asking the girl for sexually explicit photographs and videos. At first, she refused, but then he offered her money, court records say. Herrera Rea told the girl “multiple times that the videos he received were not exactly what he was looking for, and she would have to redo them in order to get paid,” the affidavit says.
Herrera paid the girl three times in the amounts of $25, $30 and $50, according to the affidavit.
Police tied Herrera to the alleged sex crimes through the payment transactions and identifying photos on his social media accounts. Court documents say he also admitted to police, during a Department of Corrections check-in appointment in Longview, that he’d contacted the girl and asked for nude photos and videos.
