MARFA — Marfa resident Sonya Murillo was sentenced Friday morning by Federal District Court Judge David Counts to serve 30 years in prison for the production of child sex abuse material.
“The fact that the judge delivered the maximum allowed 30-year imprisonment to this defendant for producing child pornography is indicative of the utterly horrendous predatory acts Murillo committed,” said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Jaime Esparza in a United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) press release.
Murillo, 33, received the maximum sentence and 15 years of supervised release. Murillo’s attorney, Bart Medley, declined to comment on the sentencing or conditions of Murillo’s release.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas has a standard set of conditions for supervised release and a special set of conditions, several of which may apply to those convicted of sexual abuse-related crimes.
The sentence was determined by Judge Counts after considering sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors, according to a previous press release from the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) noting Murillo had pleaded guilty. Murillo was not ordered to pay any fines, for which she was facing up to $250,000.
Murillo, who worked as a property manager and substitute teacher for Marfa ISD, has been held in federal custody since her arrest in June 2023. Videos of Murillo sexually abusing a minor were discovered by Texas Department of Public Safety officers during an investigation involving Murillo’s former boyfriend Patricio Javier “P.J” Serrano. Serrano was sentenced in February by Judge Counts to serve eight years in prison for possession and transportation of child sex abuse material.
The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Marfa Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. attorneys Amy Greenbaum and Kevin Cayton prosecuted the case.
A presentence investigation report filed this month by a law enforcement officer is not publicly available.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.