A Pharr man was ordered to federal prison after being found in possession of hardcore child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Vicente Andrew Gutierrez, 32, pleaded guilty on Oct. 22, 2021. A district judge ordered Gutierrez to seven years in federal prison.

During his court hearing, the court found "sadomasochistic enhancement" applied as some of the images and videos showed prepubescent minors being forced to engage in sexual acts with adults, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Gutierrez was also ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to a known victim and serve five years on supervised release. He will be under requirements that will restrict his access to children and the internet. Gutierrez will also re-register as a sex offender.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said authorities conducted an investigation from December 2017 to December 2019 on BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing platform.

During the investigation, they identified a device downloading child pornography videos and images connected to the IP addresses found to be associated with Gutierrez.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said a search warrant was executed at Gutierrez's home, where they seized his laptop and conducted a "forensic examination".

The investigation revealed the BitTorrent files titled PTHC (pre-teen hardcore), it normally refers to images or videos of prepubescent boys and girls engaged in hardcore sexual acts.

The investigation revealed Gutierrez had 412 images and four videos of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Gutierrez will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.