A man from Puerto Rico is accused of forcing a Pennsylvania child to send him sexually explicit videos after meeting the victim on Xbox Live and WhatsApp.
The investigation began in October 2024 when police responded to a home in Douglass Township, Montgomery County. A woman told police she had found a sexually explicit video of her child after taking their cellphone. Police searched through the phone and found sexually explicit videos, images and conversations between the child and a person named “Andrew” on the online gaming service the Xbox network – more commonly referred to as Xbox Live – and the social media messaging app, WhatsApp.
Police later interviewed the child who told investigators they had initially believed “Andrew” was a young boy based on his profile picture. The child said they were forced by “Andrew” to record and watch sexually explicit videos. The child said “Andrew” would threaten to kill them and their family if they didn’t comply with his demands, according to the criminal complaint.
After searching through the conversations on Xbox Live and WhatsApp, investigators identified “Andrew” as 19-year-old Andrew Santos-Rivera of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Douglass Township Police contacted Homeland Security agents in Puerto Rico who discovered email addresses associated with Santos-Rivera on several reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to the criminal complaint. The affidavit doesn’t specify if Santos-Rivera was charged in any other cases, however.
The agents later learned that Santos-Rivera had lived in San Juan from May 2021 until April 2025 when he moved to Ohio. At some point Santos-Rivera moved back to Puerto Rico however, according to investigators.
Homeland Security agents in Puerto Rico interviewed Santos-Rivera in December 2025. Then in February 2026, after further investigation, Douglass Township Police charged Santos-Rivera with unlawful contact with a minor, sexual extortion, corruption of minors and other related offenses.
Santos-Rivera is currently being held in federal custody in Puerto Rico.
NBC10 reached out to Xbox and WhatsApp for comment. We have not yet heard back from them.
Police told NBC10 the case was one of many that they’ve seen in which online predators communicated with children despite living a long distance away from them. They urged parents to become more familiar with social media and gaming apps their children are using and to check their devices often.
“Just educate your kids,” Douglass Township Police Detective Dan Castellucci said. “You don’t want to be giving out personal information online. If they start asking you sensitive questions, tell someone. If there’s an older brother or sister there, if mom and dad aren’t around, tell someone and just stop what you’re doing online.”
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