Acting United States Attorney Richard R. Barker announced that Daniel Augustine Solis, 33, has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison by United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice for producing and distributing child sexual abuse material. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Rice imposed a lifetime of supervised release and restitution of $615.
The criminal trial for Solis began on November 4, 2024. On the second day of the trial, Solis pleaded guilty after evidence was presented showing a text conversation between him and his co-defendant regarding the sexual abuse of a child.
Court documents revealed that in the fall of 2019, Solis lived with his girlfriend in Eastern Washington where he was abusive and manipulative. He monitored her actions through her social media accounts and phone applications. After moving to Michigan, Solis continued this pattern of manipulation.
To appease Solis, his girlfriend agreed to create sexually explicit videos involving a minor child and send them to him. In February 2020, when she disclosed to her mother that Solis had access to their family cell phone plan, he threatened her into creating more explicit videos by threatening police involvement unless she complied with his demands for specific content and duration.
After these videos were created, Solis became upset again and used his girlfriend’s phone account credentials to send the explicit videos to her co-workers and friends.
“Daniel Solis committed acts of unimaginable cruelty and exploitation,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Rich Barker. “His manipulation and abuse caused profound harm, and today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of those crimes. The Department of Justice remains steadfast in its commitment to protecting the most vulnerable in our communities—our children—and to holding predators accountable wherever they are found.”
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse by coordinating federal, state, and local resources.
The investigation involved efforts from the FBI, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, Kalamazoo Township Police Department, Assistant United States Attorneys Alison L. Gregoire and Rebecca R. Perez along with assistance from Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office.