Special education teacher posing as teen heads to prison for exploiting minor he met online

McALLEN, Texas - A 43-year-old Mission resident has been sentenced for coercion and enticement of a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Juan Carlos Munoz pleaded guilty March 29.

Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane has now sentenced Munoz to serve 168 months in prison immediately followed by five years of supervised release. 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. At the hearing, the court heard how Munoz would not only solicit photos and videos from minor children but would share and exchange those sexually explicit photos with another adult male child predator. In handing down the prison term, the court noted its concern for the safety of our school children.

"Munoz is a predator who hid within the walls of a local school and behind fake personas," said Hamdani. "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."

"Mr. Munoz abused his position of public trust as a special education teacher to prey on those he was entrusted to protect," said Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). "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."

In November 2022, law enforcement in South Carolina met with a family who discovered their 14-year-old girl was communicating with an individual who was 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. Law enforcement uncovered numerous conversations and successfully traced the perpetrator's phone number to the Rio Grande Valley. They determined his true identity was 41-year-old Munoz, a high school special education teacher.

In December 2022, Texas authorities located Munoz at the school where he was employed. He admitted to communicating with approximately 50 minor children and requesting sexually explicit photos and videos.

Munoz will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

HSI-Rio Grande Valley Child Exploitation Task Force conducted the investigation with the assistance of York County Sheriff's Office in South Carolina.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura 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.