SAN ANTONIO — A registered sex offender in San Antonio is facing more charges after Hays County investigators said they found child pornography on his phone and a second victim came forward.
Diego Alejandro Cortez, 24, was arrested on July 2 after deputies said he convinced a 10-year-old girl to run away from her home in Kyle to San Antonio to have sex with him.
Since that arrest, a second victim from Cibolo has come forward and told investigators she and Cortez have had several sexual encounters since March.
Deputies said Cortez used Snapchat to lure both victims. Once investigators got a warrant for Cortez’s phone, they said they discovered several pictures and videos that appear to be child pornography.
He is now charged with 10 counts of possession of Child Pornography, Harboring a Runaway, Traffic Child to Engage in Sexual Conduct, and Sex Abuse of Child Continuous: Victim under 14.
On Thursday, during a press conference, Hays County Deputy Anthony Hipolito said there are more victims in or around San Antonio.
“We want to get you justice,” Hipolito said. ”What Mr. Cortez is doing is sick, it’s evil and he needs to spend the rest of his life in prison.”
Investigators said Cortez admitted to sexually abusing both young girls. They said he would pretend to be a teenager on Snapchat.
“He would start grooming them at that time, develop a relationship, have back and forths, texts or private messages until he was able to earn their trust and he would go and meet them at that time,” Hipolito said.
Angie White is the CEO of CASA San Antonio. She said this type of grooming online is alarmingly common.
“Parents can’t track it, you know, even if you took your child’s phone, Snapchat is already gone,” White said. “So the use of that technology and kind of the sophistication of the perpetrator, its growing and growing.”
White said she urges parents to have conversations with their children, especially if they have a cell phone.
“It’s a hard conversation right, we don’t want to take away the innocence of our children,” White said. “But, we have the educate them because if we don’t, that’s an opening for these perpetrators to do this kind of thing to our children.”
White said she is thankful in this case, Hays County investigators are remaining vigilant in order to find all of the victims.
“We’ve got to make it so that the threat of the prosecution and what might happen afterwards actually starts to stop this issue because it’s not going away and its growing,” White said.
In 2021, Cortez was arrested and charged for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in Weatherford. Police had said then, they believed there were more victims.
Online records show he registered as a sex offender in Bexar County in May. He is being held in the Hays County Jail with a $400,000 bond.
He was known to use the Snapchat profile names:
Dfordiegs
Slowbass4367
If you have information regarding this investigation or if you believe your child was a victim please contact Sergeant Mark Opiela with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office at 512-393-7896 or email mark.opiela@co.hays.tx.us.
You can also contact Crime Stoppers anonymously by calling 1-800-324-TIPS or you can submit your information on-line to Tip Line P3tips.com as well as submit a tip on the Hays County Sheriff’s Office App.