Bruce Young-Candelaria, president of the Hispanic-American Institute, has been awarded the 2020 Albuquerque FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award for helping the agency with an investigation of online child sexual abuse material.
FBI Albuquerque tweeted the announcement.
Young-Candelaria was on a Zoom conference hosted by the institute in May 2020 when "an unknown individual displayed a video portraying child sexual abuse material," the FBI said in a news release.
Bruce Young-Candelaria, president of the Hispanic-American Institute
"The moderator of the virtual meeting took down the video as quickly as possible, and the FBI was called to investigate," the agency said. "Young-Candelaria agreed to media interviews in support of the FBI investigation, which at the time was part of a nationwide probe into more than 280 Zoom bombing incidents that displayed child sexual abuse material across the country and overseas."
As a record number of people were using online services for work during the COVID-19 pandemic, "Young-Candelaria’s efforts highlighted the importance of cyber safety," the FBI said. The incident remains under investigation.
"I am honored to have the opportunity to help the FBI in its effort to prosecute crimes against children, the most vulnerable of victims,” Young-Candelaria said in a news release.
The Hispanic-American Institute is a non-profit corporation which promotes "social, educational, and economic development" in Hispanic communities in the continental United States, Puerto Rico, and Latin America, according to its site.