RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A federal judge has ordered a Fontana man to serve a quarter-century in a federal prison for enticing girls as young as 9 years old to film themselves in sexually explicit ways, sometimes in exchange for online gaming currency, the Justice Department announced today.
Jonathan Garcia, 28, was sentenced late Monday afternoon to 300 months in prison. In addition to the 25-year sentence, United States District Judge Jesus G. Bernal ordered that Garcia be on supervised release for 20 years after he is released from custody.
Garcia pleaded guilty on May 2 to one count of production of child pornography. In his plea agreement, Garcia admitted he posed as a 15-year-old boy and had online conversations with a 9-year-old girl. In his plea agreement, Garcia admitted he was enticed the victim to send him “naughty” pictures in exchange for Robux, a currency that can be used on the Roblox online gaming platform.
In November 2019, the victim made three sexually explicit videos that she sent to
Garcia through online messaging services. The victim’s mother discovered the online communications with Garcia and alerted the Ontario Police Department, which opened an investigation.
When police executed a search warrant at Garcia’s residence, officers recovered several phones containing child pornography. Furthermore, during an interview with police, Garcia “admitted to contacting other minor girls online for photos and videos since 2015 and estimated that he probably contacted between 50-100 girls,” according to the plea agreement. Law enforcement discovered meticulously maintained digital folders containing numerous photos and videos of girls who were approximately 11 to 14 years old, and who had been enticed and solicited by Garcia to send the images.
Garcia’s “actions involved harm to real, multiple, children,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court. “This was not a one-time error in judgement or slip in impulse control but a years-long, premeditated, campaign to satisfy his sexual interest.”
