Pasco Man Sentenced to Seven Years for Child Exploitation
A Pasco man was sentenced to 84 months in prison on child exploitation charges.
On October 15th, 45-year old Julio Cesar Anaya was sentenced to seven years behind bars by Chief United States District Judge Stanley A. Bastian. The judge also imposed a lifetime of supervised release.
According to court documents, in March of 2022, a Kennewick detective working with the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (SER-ICAC) was working undercover as a 13-year old girl and posted an ad on a website. Anaya responded and began communication with the undercover detective.
Anaya repeatedly discussed engaging in sexual intercourse with the child and requested that the child send him child pornography—that is, naked pictures of herself. Anaya also attempted to persuade the person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl to come to his house in Pasco. In one particularly deliberate act, he even offered to pay for her Uber.
According to reports, Anaya planned to meet with the 13-year old at a Richand motel. On April 11th, he booked a hotel room and instructed the 13-year old girl when to arrive, sharing his plans.
On April 12th, 2023, Richland Police detectives took Anaya into custody.
Anaya had massage oil, condoms, erectile dysfunction medication, lubricant, and hand sanitizer. Also, in another phone, he had more than 300 child porn images.
“It is incredibly fortunate that this child predator’s attempt at victimizing a person whom he believed to be a teenage girl was thwarted by our law enforcement partnerships,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees HSI operations in the Pacific Northwest. “The devasting impact of online predators cannot be overstated. This sentence sends a strong message that abusing children will not be tolerated, whether it is downloading and possessing child pornography, trying to meet children for sex, or any other form of child exploitation.”
81 Missing Children From Washington. Do You Recognize Anyone?
Gallery Credit: Jaime Skelton