McALLEN — A 14-year veteran special education teacher has been ordered held without bond pending trial on charges of soliciting minors for child sexual abuse material, or CSAM.
Juan Carlos Muñoz, 41, is charged with soliciting and coercing a child to produce CSAM using various social media applications.
Muñoz appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker for a bond and detention hearing on Dec. 27.
There, the magistrate judge heard arguments from the government, as well as Muñoz’s defense attorney, Carlos A. Garcia, over whether the former educator could remain in the community while he awaits trial.
After hearing from both sides, Hacker took their arguments under advisement, eventually returning an order last Wednesday that Muñoz should remain in custody.
The judge found that Muñoz not only poses a flight risk due to his connections to Mexico, but that “no condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of… the community,” according to a copy of the detention order.
On Dec. 16, La Joya ISD police officers arrested Muñoz at Palmview High School, where he had been working as a special education teacher.
Local law enforcement had been tipped off about Muñoz after being contacted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding an investigation in South Carolina.
Investigators with the York County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina were investigating claims that a 14-year-old child had been coerced into sending nude images to someone they thought was a 19-year-old man in Texas.
Authorities traced the phone number allegedly connected to the illicit communication to Muñoz, according to the criminal complaint against him.
Once Muñoz was in police custody, he admitted to soliciting photos and video from the South Carolina teen, whom he believed to be 11 or 12 years old, the complaint stated.
Moreover, Muñoz also told investigators that the child wasn’t his only victim.
“Muñoz told (special agents) that over the last three years he has solicited over 50 minor children via the internet for nude images and videos,” the complaint stated.
“(H)e would masturbate over video chat while directing the children to perform sexually explicit acts,” it further stated.
It was precisely those admissions — which Muñoz allegedly made during two separate interviews — that prompted federal prosecutors to strenuously argue for Muñoz’s continued detention.
“Mr. Muñoz does pose a danger to the community,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Garcia said during the Dec. 27 hearing.
“He may reach out to other victims,” she said.
Further, the prosecutor said that Muñoz has the financial and social means to flee, adding that he is unmarried, has no children and lives alone.
But Muñoz’s defense attorney argued that a member of his family could perhaps serve as a custodian, motioning to several family members who were sitting in the gallery, as well mentioning Muñoz’s father.
But the magistrate judge found that argument uncompelling.
“(Muñoz’s) siblings indicated that they believed (Muñoz) may be suffering from a mental health condition,” Hacker noted in the detention order. “They also indicated that their relationship with (Muñoz) has been somewhat estranged.”
Prosecutors said it would be difficult to ensure Muñoz could not access the internet if released on bond.
But Muñoz’s attorney disputed that notion both during the hearing and afterward.
“If you remove the person’s capacity and ability to access the internet, then how does he commit the crimes of coercion and child pornography,” Garcia said outside the courthouse after the hearing.
“Regardless of what the government says occurred, that man — who’s in chains right now — is presumed to be innocent. Period. Period,” Garcia said.
Muñoz will remain in custody at the East Hidalgo Detention Center in La Villa pending the resolution of his case.
