Kelvin Alexander Dias, 23, appeared in court on Monday morning. Prosecutors say the suspect posted images online, and that's what led to the arrest.
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The details in this case are disturbing.
The 5-year-old victim is said to be non-verbal and on the autism spectrum.
Dias faces several felony counts, including one charge of first-degree super-aggravated sexual assault of a child under 6 years of age, two charges of first-degree sexual performance by a child, and two charges second-degree possession of child pornography with the intent to promote.
The suspect was arrested on Feb. 15.
Authorities said the victim is the child of a family friend. Prosecutors say Dias chose the 5-year-old since the child is non-verbal and could not report the crime.
Instead, the assault came to the attention of a group monitoring pornographic images that were posted to Twitter.
That group, the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, then called the Houston Police Department.
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Officers were able to track down the IP address of the account. They then made contact with the child's mother, who was able to identify her son and Dias.
"Twitter became aware that there was sexually-explicit content, child pornography, flowing through an account that was later identified to be connected to the defendant, Dias," Luke Baty with the Harris County District Attorney's Office said.
Dias reportedly admitted to creating and uploading the content, according to court records. The suspect made money selling the pornographic images, prosecutors say.
The suspect reportedly told officers leaving the country was an option, court records say. Dias is from Honduras and allegedly has a home and money there.
Dias is being held in jail on a $1.2 million bond total: $500,000 for the super-aggravated sexual assault charge and $250,000 for each of the four remaining charges. Under the bond conditions, Dias must surrender their passport and visas, among other conditions such as having no access to the internet or possession of porn of any kind.
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