Source: US FBI
McALLEN, Texas – A 36-year-old Mexican man who resided in McAllen has been sent to prison for receipt of child pornography involving infants and toddlers, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Jose Julian Garcia Garza pleaded guilty April 2.
U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton has now ordered Garza to serve a 120-month prison term. At the hearing, the court heard additional information detailing Garza’s use of a virtual private network to hide his illegal activity and the likelihood that he used child sex dolls to recreate videos he was downloading. Garza was further ordered to pay a total of $104,500 in restitution to 14 victims and will be on supervised release for 10 years following completion of his prison term. During that time, he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. He will also be ordered to register as a sex offender. Not a U.S. citizen, Garza is expected to face removal proceedings following his imprisonment.
In July 2024, law enforcement discovered Garza was using a peer-to-peer file sharing program to download and upload files of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The files included videos of infants and toddlers engaged in sexual conduct.
Authorities conducted a search of Garza’s bedroom and discovered the bottom portion of an infant-sized doll as well as two child-sized, lifelike sex dolls and various sex toys. A forensic examination of his custom hard drive revealed a total of 997 images and videos of CSAM.
“The facts underlying this investigation are as telling as they are disturbing,” said Ganjei. “By all accounts, Garza appears to be the kind of person who would not be satisfied by only passively viewing CSAM. Fortunately, law enforcement was able to locate and arrest Garza before he could start physically preying on children.”
Garza has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
FBI conducted the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Alexis Garcia prosecuted the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section leads PSC, which marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identifies and rescues victims. For more information about PSC, please visit DOJ’s PSC page. For more information about internet safety education, please visit the resources tab on that page.