TYLER, Texas — A Tyler man remains jailed for his involvement in exchanging child pornography videos and images through a trading agreement with another East Texas man, arrest documents show.
Antonio Guevara-Valderrama, 36, was booked into the Smith County Jail Nov. 9 on a possession of child pornography charge. He remains in custody on a $700,000 bond.
According to an arrest affidavit, his arrest stems from the Nov. 7 arrest of Nathaniel Connor Mitchell, 22, of Flint, who had his phone searched while officers were looking into claims Mitchell raped a woman at a Tyler apartment complex in October.
A woman told police Mitchell gave her a drug substance that caused her to lose consciousness. She recalled waking up to Mitchell sexually assaulting her, the affidavit said.
After interview the woman, officers got a search warrant for Mitchell's residence and phone. On the device, police found 29 files containing child pornography, including children from infancy to pre-teen years, were discovered on his phone.
On Nov. 8, investigators discovered a thread of 186 messages between Mitchell and a man, who was identified as Guevara-Valderrama, that spanned from June to October. An officer saw numerous videos of apparent child pornography that he recognized from Mitchell's phone, according to the affidavit.
Based on the messages, the investigator said it seemed Guevara-Valderrama was giving child pornography to Mitchell in exchange for shirtless photos of Mitchell, the affidavit said.
Officers investigated to find addresses and a phone number associated with Guevara-Valderrama. During this investigation, police interviewed Mitchell about Guevara-Valderrama and their thread of messages.
Mitchell said he met Guevara-Valderrama, who he knew as "Tony Salsa," at the gym three years ago and they swapped Instagram accounts to message each other. Mitchell told police Guevara-Valderrama offered Mitchell money for photos of Mitchell with his shirt off or naked, according to the affidavit.
According to the document, after about six months of knowing each other, Guevara-Valderrama messaged Mitchell asking if he wanted to see underage girls and Mitchell replied yes. Guevara-Valderrama sent several videos of child pornography through their phones.
During their messaging, Mitchell said that Guevara-Valderrama once told Mitchell that he and his business partner sexually assaulted an 8-year-old girl who they were allegedly babysitting. Mitchell also claimed Guevara-Valderrama offered to pay Mitchell $1,000 to come to sexually assault the girl while Guevara-Valderrama watched with his business partner, according to the affidavit.
Mitchell denied agreeing to that proposal and said he did not see any children or indications of children at Guevara-Valderrama's residence, the document read.