NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A former U.S. Navy Sailor pleaded guilty on Friday to receiving child sexual abuse material (CSAM). From Jan. 11 2023 to Mar. 23, 2023, Gabriel Benjamin Hester, an active-duty service member at that time, uploaded seven files of CSAM.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received several tips to its Cyber tipline from a cloud-based storage provider that a user uploaded seven files of CSAM. NCMEC reported this information along with the phone number associated with the user’s account to the Chesapeake Police Department.

In April of 2023, the Chesapeake Police Department identified Hester and that he appeared to be an active-duty servicemember. The Chesapeake police then notified the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) of the investigation. NCIS confirmed Hester was an active-duty servicemember of the United States Navy, stationed in Portsmouth, Virginia from April 30, 2020, to September 23, 2024.

NCIS executed a Command Authorized Search and Seizure for Hester’s cell phone aboard the USS John Warner Barge. NCIS recovered 206 pictures and 62 videos of CSAM and 71 images of child erotica from the phone. An additional 60 files of CSAM were recovered from the Snapchat folder “my eyes only.”

A further search of Hester’s phone revealed Hester received, purchased, traded, and distributed CSAM using an online messaging app. According to court documents, on April 27, 2023, Hester asked another user on the messaging app, “You have cp?” and requested to exchange files. He then sent two videos of CSAM and asked, “Bueno?”. Hester then received three CSAM videos and thanked the sender. Hester followed by asking the user in Spanish if he had more CSAM videos. Hester sent two more CSAM videos and asked the user to trade. Hester received four more CSAM video files.

Court documents state that on some occasions, Hester would communicate in Spanish to obtain CSAM.

Hester is set to be sentenced on April 16, 2025. He will serve at least five years behind bars but could serve as many as 20 years in prison.