BOSTON – A Brazilian national, residing in Milford, Mass. pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Worcester to transportation and possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Joao Carlos Tavares Da Silva, 22, pleaded guilty to transportation and possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman scheduled sentencing for Jan. 29, 2027. Tavares Da Silva was arrested and charged in January 2026. Tavares Da Silva is a Brazilian citizen with an outstanding warrant in Brazil for statutory rape; production, reproduction, direction, recording or filming of scenes of explicit sexual acts or pornography involving children or adolescents; and selling or offering for sale any photograph, video, or other recording that contains scenes of explicit sexual acts or pornography involving a child or adolescent. During a search of Tavares Da Silva’s home in Milford, multiple electronic devices were seized. Images containing CSAM were located on one of those devices. The images depicted the sexual exploitation of an identified minor victim in Brazil. Tavares Da Silva produced the images in Brazil then transported the images to the United States via a mobile phone that he carried when he moved to Massachusetts in May 2025. The charge of transportation of child pornography provides for a sentence of no less than five years and up to 20 years in prison, supervised release for life and a fine of $250,000. The charge of possession of child pornography provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, supervised release for life and a fine of $250,000. The defendant is subject to deportation upon completion of any sentence imposed. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Jeff Grimming, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by Milford Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen M. Noto of the Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identity and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.