Illinois man sentenced for online exploitation of York County child

YORKTOWN, Va (WAVY) — A 31-year-old Illinois man has been sentenced after pleading guilty to exploiting a York County child online.

According to the York County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, Andres Arreola pleaded guilty to enticing a minor to perform child sexual abuse acts and using a communication system to facilitate certain offenses involving a child.

The case began in April 2025 after the parent of a 9-year-old child called the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office about inappropriate messages they found from Arreola to the child on an online chat platform.

Investigators determined Arreola sent sexually explicit messages and images to the child and persuaded the child to send explicit images in return, knowing the victim was a 9-year-old.

Detectives were able to identify Arreola in Illinois, where he was taken into custody. He was then extradited him to York County where he remained behind bars without bond. Detectives also recovered electronic evidence supporting the charges.

A judge ultimately sentenced Arreola to 40 years in prison, suspending 31 years and six months, leaving him with an active prison sentence of eight years and six months.

After his release, Arreola will serve 20 years of supervised probation. He cannot have unsupervised contact with minors and will be required to register with Virginia’s Sex Offender and Crimes against Minors Registry.

“The exploitation of children—whether in person or online—will not be tolerated in York County,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Krystyn Reid in a statement.

Reid goes on to praise the investigators, prosecutors and the “the young victim and the victim’s family throughout this case. Anyone who seeks to harm a child, regardless of where they are located, should expect to be identified, brought before the court, prosecuted, and held accountable.”