A Lowell man, Steven Estrada Ramirez, was sentenced on Mar. 11 in federal court in Boston to five years in prison for receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material.
Estrada Ramirez, age 23, will also serve five years of supervised release after his prison term and is subject to deportation once his sentence is complete. He pleaded guilty in November 2025 to charges of receipt and possession of child pornography after being indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2024.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Estrada Ramirez participated in several groups on a mobile chat application where users shared and viewed child sexual abuse material. At the time of his arrest, authorities found a USB drive containing over 700 video files depicting such material, including images of children estimated to be between one and eight years old. Investigators also discovered that the home screen of Estrada Ramirez’s cell phone displayed an image of child sexual abuse material and that the device contained more than 5,000 related images and videos.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England, announced the sentencing. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Maynard and Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus from the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.
The prosecution was part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in 2006 aimed at protecting children from exploitation and abuse. The program brings together federal, state, and local resources to locate offenders who exploit children as well as identify victims.
