Juan Carlos Sandoval-Guerrero, Production of Child Pornography, Washington 2021

Spokane, WA – A Mexican citizen has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for producing child pornography. Juan Carlos Sandoval-Guerrero, age 21, pleaded guilty to production and attempted production of child pornography on April 1, 2021.

The investigation began in February 2020, when Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) received a complaint from a concerned local mother. The mother expressed concern regarding interactions her 9- and 11-year-old sons were having with a person she believed to be an adult over Xbox.

Through further investigation, HSI determined that Sandoval-Guerrero had been using Xbox to encourage the boys to engage in sexually-explicit activities, to video and photograph those activities, and send the images to him. Sandoval-Guerrero also communicated with the 11-year-old boy via an application called TextNow.

On February 6, 2020, HSI executed a warrant to search Sandoval-Guerrero’s Grandview, Washington, residence, and seized numerous electronic devices that contained images of child pornography involving the boys.

At sentencing, United States District Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr. said, “This is a very serious offense. The effects of the offense are not limited to those instances, those moments with the children. The brain of a 9, 11-year old is just developing. It has severe life-long impacts – what happens to them at that age. Impacts that you caused. You did it.”

As part of his sentence, Sandoval-Guerrero was also ordered to pay $53,040.00 in restitution to his victims.

This case was pursued as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The initiative marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

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