The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas announced on Sept. 16 that a Grand Prairie man accused of child pornography was sentenced to thirty-five years and ten months in prison. The man reportedly used two six-year-old girls to create child pornography.
In January, 38-year-old Juan Navarro Jr. pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography, prosecutors said in a news release. Yahoo! reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an email user had uploaded child pornography. This revelation led to the investigation into Navarro.
On Sept. 3, 2019, Grand Prairie police searched Navarro’s home and discovered stored images of child pornography on a smartphone. Police said that some of the photos appeared to have been taken with the phone.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Navarro initially denied knowing the two girls but later admitted to taking pornographic images of them and saving them on his phone. According to court documents, Navarro took the photos between February and August 2019 while dating the girls’ mother.
According to the U.S Attorney’s Office, the girls’ mother was at the sentencing. During the victim impact statement, she said, “My girls are not physically here, but I am. I’m here so my voice can be their voice and the voice of all of those other innocent victims. We need our voices to be heard.”
In addition, prosecutors indicate that the girls have received psychological and medical care.
Navarro’s sentencing is presided over by U.S District Judge Mark Pittman, and the prosecutor on the case was assistant U.S. Attorney Brandie Wade.