Winona Man Admits to Scheme That Victimized Dozens of Young Girls

St. Paul, MN (KROC-AM News)- A Winona man is pleading guilty to federal charges connected to a national and international sextortion scheme involving young girls.

Read More: Federal Grand Jury Indicts Winona Man in Major Sexstortion Case

That’s according to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Minnesota. He entered the guilty plea on Thursday at the federal courthouse in St. Paul.

In January a federal grand jury indicted 30-year-old Valentin Silva Quintana with 13 counts of production of child pornography, one count of distribution, and one count of possession of child pornography.

Quintana. Minnesota BCA/Facebook

Federal court documents accuse the Winona man of using, “social media apps, including Snapchat and Instagram, to threaten, sexually manipulate, and exploit more than 60 young girls primarily between 9 and 12 years of age."

(Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Quintana was also accused of using fake identities and lying about his age in communications with his young victims by posing as another young girl while convincing them to send him sexually explicit photos or videos of themselves.

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Quintana then threatened to send the image or video to the victim's friends and family unless the young girls agreed to produce additional sexually-explicit images and videos for him.

According to the indictment, the crimes occurred between April 2022 and June of last year.

Winona Man Pleads Guilty to Sexstortion Scheme That Victimized 60 Girls

Quintana entered guilty pleas to one count each of production of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

The Winona County Sheriff’s Office was one of the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation that led to indictment and guilty plea.

Quintana's sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.