Las Vegas man pleads guilty to federal child sexual exploitation charges

A Las Vegas man pleaded guilty Wednesday to exploiting children and possessing hundreds of child sexual abuse material.

Mohammad Shoaib Taraki pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography, according to a news release from the Nevada U.S. attorney’s office.

According to court documents, Taraki sexually exploited two children in his care by producing sexually explicit visual depictions of each child between December 2024 and this past January. Prosecutors said he also possessed more than 600 images and videos depicting sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence, infants and toddlers, and minors under the age of 12.

Taraki also admitted that he sent 53 videos using his two Snapchat accounts, and that he received 21 videos and one image from other users on Snapchat.

Chief U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon set sentencing for Aug. 26. The statutory maximum penalty for each count of sexual exploitation of children is 30 years in prison and the statutory maximum penalty for possession of child pornography is 20 years in prison.

The FBI and Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case, which is a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.