Daniel Navarro convicted of enticing and transporting 15-year-old to Mexico Thursday
NIPOMO, Calif. – A 15-year-old girl from Arizona who was spending the summer in Nipomo was rescued from a Tijuana home in 2022 and the man who enticed her online and took her there, 41-year-old Daniel Navarro of Victorville, was convicted of multiple charges related to sexual exploitation and child pornography Thursday.
Navarro was arrested in July 2022 as he entered the United States from Mexico stated the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California in a press release Friday.
His arrest came ten days after he had brought the 15-year-old to Mexico from Nipomo and she was rescued from a Tijuana residence by Mexican authorities after his arrest shared the U.S. Attorney's Office.
After a four-day trial that ended late Thursday, Navarro -who sometimes posed as 'Angel' online- was convicted of two counts of sexual exploitation of a child for the purpose of producing sexually explicit video, one count of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, one count of transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, one count of distribution of child pornography, and one count of transportation of child pornography detailed the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California Friday.
Navarro remains in federal custody awaiting sentencing currently scheduled for Oct. 24 where he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum of life in prison explained the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to evidence presented during the trial, Navarro had an online relationship with the Arizona teen spending the summer in Nipomo. A review of one of his Instagram accounts showed conversations between the two including Navarro professing his love for the 15-year-old and a discussion of having sex for the purpose of impregnating her.
Navarro used Instagram to distribute child pornography to the teen and transported that material with him while driving from Mexico to Nipomo before personally driving the 15-year-old from San Luis Obispo County to Tijuana, Mexico noted the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Evidence presented at trial also showed that Navarro had used Instagram to entice another victim to send him sexual images added the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office investigated this case with assistance from the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office, Mexican law enforcement, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations stated the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Reidy of the Major Frauds Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathy Yu prosecuted this case.
In response to Your News Channel inquiries Friday, Laura Eimiller, Media Coordinator for the Los Angeles Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shared, "the bravery and the cooperation by the victims in this case may have very well prevented additional victims. The interagency collaboration among law enforcement in San Luis Obispo and with our Mexican counterparts is invaluable and these cases can't be made without them."
