Florida Man Sentenced to Less Than Three Years in Prison for CSAM in Plea Deal
Earlier this month, Kenneth Emmanuel Cruz-Santiago, 27, was sentenced to less than three years in prison for charges relating to child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
In November 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received an investigative lead from Snapchat regarding the user “highimhi0420” engaging in child exploitation. Based on the tip, the suspect, later identified as Cruz-Santiago, uploaded and shared two CSAM images. The phone number and date of birth that was attached to the account matched Cruz-Santiago’s information.
The case was initially under investigation by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office but it was transferred to the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office after it was found that Cruz-Santiago’s phone number was registered to his family members who live in Newberry.
On January 23, 2025, Cruz-Santiago was booked into jail on unrelated gun and drug charges. At the time, he was on pretrial release for another drug-related case out of Hillsborough County. His phone was entered into his property and deputies confirmed the number matched the one in the tip.
According to the police report, a search of data on the Snapchat account showed roughly three dozen photos of Cruz-Santiago in addition to the CSAM evidence.
The Snapchat data shows Cruz-Santiago communicated with an account with the username “Chrisowenz” on November 15, 2024.
Chrisowenz sent Cruz-Santiago pictures of his “girl” and he responded by asking for “younger.” Chrisowenz replied with further pictures, and Cruz-Santiago asked for "younger" again. Chrisowenz sent more pictures but the police report indicates they appeared to be young women of legal age.
The same day, in another chat between Cruz-Santiago and an account with the username “Victorchapman24,” he sent the user a CSAM image depicting a child identified as 12-14 years of age. Cruz-Santiago was attempting to “trade” but Victorchapman24 only sent him photos of adult women.
In May 2025, Cruz-Santiago was sentenced to 13 months in prison after taking a no-contest plea deal for the firearm/drug charges.
In November 2025, prosecutors filed formal charges against Cruz-Santiago for two counts of possessing CSAM and two counts of transmitting CSAM.
In January 2026, Cruz-Santiago was transferred back to the Alachua County Jail to face his CSAM charges.
On August 11, 2026, Cruz-Santiago, facing up to 20 years in prison, took a no-contest plea deal where he was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by five years of sex offender probation. The plea deal was accepted by Senior Judge Bo Bayer and signed by Assistant State Attorney Darla Whistler.
Cruz-Santiago currently remains in the Alachua County Jail awaiting transportation to a Florida Department of Corrections facility.
