DOJ: Merced man gets 20 years for child exploitation crimes
By John Houghton
Published on March 20, 2026.
A 36-year-old man from Merced has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for child exploitation. The Department of Justice alleges that Joel Damian Ortega used a Samsung Galaxy smartphone to receive and distribute visual depictions of a child sexually explicit behaviour. Ortegan also used an iPhone to receive visual images of the child.
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