CHICAGO — A Chicago man who faced 88 counts of child pornography charges pleaded guilty on Friday to a single charge in exchange for a three-year prison sentence. After receiving various credits, Cristhian Basabe, 24, is expected to be paroled in about six months.
Prosecutors said two social media companies’ tips to a national child protection hotline led investigators to Basabe in March 2024.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received its first tip about the cases in October 2021 from Kik, a messaging app, regarding a user named suprakillah_6b5. The account was suspected of transmitting child pornography on its system in July of that year, according to prosecutors and Basabe’s arrest report.
Kik also contacted NCMEC about other accounts Basabe allegedly operated in 2022 and 2023 under the names blingblingboy07_hx7, blingboy_pji, and blingblingdeeznutz_81z.
Later that year, Snapchat contacted NCMEC with similar concerns about an account named senorcristhian, the report said.
Search warrants executed on the accounts revealed explicit images and videos involving minors, including some that showed Basabe, prosecutors said. Investigators linked Basabe to the accounts through IP addresses and network connections.
Investigators who arrested Basabe allegedly found evidence on his phone confirming he transmitted child pornography to others via text. The videos included some of Basabe performing a sex act on a girl under 18, prosecutors alleged in a detention petition filed during Basabe’s first court appearance.
Initially charged with four felonies, Basabe’s problems ballooned after a grand jury reviewed the allegations and returned an 88-count true bill against him. Prosecutors dropped 87 of those counts in a plea deal with Basabe.
Judge Alfredo Maldonado handed him the three-year sentence, which will be reduced to 18 months with good behavior. It will be reduced further by 344 days of credit Basabe earned in jail since being arrested.
