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View Winners → Crime Jul 12, 2022
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A Southern California man accused of posing online as a teenage boy and luring a 15-year-old girl into a sexual relationship before bringing her to Mexico is expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday to face federal charges of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Daniel Navarro, 38, of Victorville — who sometimes posed online as “Angel” — was named Monday in a federal criminal complaint that also charges a woman who allegedly helped Navarro contact minors and who apparently drove Navarro and the girl to Tijuana on July 1, the night before the girl’s scheduled quinceañera, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Navarro and his suspected accomplice — Julie Le, 20, of Garden Grove — were arrested Sunday pursuant to state court warrants as they entered the United States from Mexico, days after allegedly bringing the victim to Mexico. Both defendants are expected to appear Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court.
The victim in the case — an Arizona girl identified in court documents as A.T. who was spending the summer in the Central Coast town of Nipomo — was rescued Monday from a residence in Tijuana by Mexican authorities, federal prosecutors said.
According to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Navarro had an online relationship with the victim for the past year.
Federal prosecutors contend that one of Navarro’s Instagram accounts revealed conversations between Navarro and A.T. in which Navarro professed his love for her and discussed having sex “in order to impregnate her,” according to the affidavit.
The document states that Navarro used social media in an attempt to convince one of A.T.’s relatives to run away with him, and that Navarro tried to entice other teenage girls to send him sexual images.
On July 1, Navarro and Le entered Mexico with A.T. hidden in the backseat, according to the affidavit.
The charge of transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity with a minor carries a penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.
