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A former Palmview High School special education teacher has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for soliciting sexually explicit photos from a 14-year-old girl in South Carolina.
Juan Carlos Munoz, 43, who pleaded guilty on March 29, was sentenced Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced in a news release.
Federal investigators opened the investigation in November 2022 after law enforcement in South Carolina met with the family of the teenage girl who was communicating with an individual soliciting nude photos and videos.
“The girl met the individual who claimed to be a 19-year-old teenage boy on a social media/video chat site,” the release stated. “Law enforcement uncovered numerous conversations and successfully traced the perpetrator’s phone number to the Rio Grande Valley.”
In December 2022, authorities arrested Munoz at Palmview High School.
“He admitted to communicating with approximately 50 minor children and requesting sexually explicit photos and videos,” the release stated.
During the hearing, Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane heard how Munoz also shared the videos and photos he solicited with another “adult male predator.”
“In handing down the prison term, the court noted its concern for the safety of our school children,” the release stated.
Alamdar S. Hamdani, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said Munoz belongs behind bars.
“Munoz is a predator who hid within the walls of a local school and behind fake personas,” Hamdani said in the release. “This sentence should show this family and all families that justice will bring child predators out of the shadows and placed behind bars where they belong.”
Craig Larrabee, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio, said Munoz abused his position of public trust and preyed on those he was entrusted to protect.
“The sexual exploitation of children is among the most egregious crimes HSI investigates, and today’s sentencing serves as a reminder that our agency will work tirelessly to protect children from coercion and enticement of minors,” Larrabee said in the release.
