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Worcester man gets 30 years in prison for sexually exploiting minors
Antonio Merced, 29, was sentenced on March 26 by the U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman, according to federal prosecutors.
A Worcester man received a 30-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to sexually abusing three children, including a 6-year-old girl, federal prosecutors announced.
Antonio Merced, 29, was sentenced on March 26 by the U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman, the office of U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah B. Foley said in a press release.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of possession of child pornography in July 2025, federal prosecutors said.
He is currently serving 25 to 30 years in state prison for a previous conviction regarding the same alleged assaults, Foley’s office said.
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Merced will serve his new, federal sentence concurrently to his state sentence, federal prosecutors said.
In 2024, prosecutors accused Merced of exposing two young girls to pornography and sex toys. During the investigation, investigators discovered Merced had been sexually abusing three children and videotaping the abuse, Foley’s office said.
In a video dated from 2023, Merced filmed himself sexually abusing a 6-year-old girl; other videos taken in 2024 showed Merced sexually assaulting two other minors, federal prosecutors said.
Merced admitted to “using” three minors to create sexually explicit content. He also told prosecutors he had “hundreds of photos and videos” of child pornography of children he did not know, Foley’s office said.
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Merced was originally arrested in September of 2024. He has been in state custody since then, Foley’s office said.
Merced pleaded guilty in Worcester Superior Court in February 2026 to ten counts of rape of a child with a five year age difference, three counts of obscene matter to a minor, two counts of incest, three counts of posing a child in a nude and lascivious way, and one count of child pornography, court records show.
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