LOS ANGELES
A Southern California man who posed online as a teenage boy and enticed a 15-year-old girl to have a sexual relationship before bringing her to Mexico is facing federal charges, officials stated.
Daniel Navarro is scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday to face federal charges of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, according to authorities.
Navarro, who sometimes posed online as “Angel,” 38, of Victorville, was named in a federal criminal complaint that also charges a woman who allegedly helped Navarro contact minors and who apparently drove Navarro and the 15-year-old girl to Tijuana on July 1, the night before the girl’s scheduled quinceañera.
Navarro and his alleged accomplice – Julie Le, 20, of Garden Grove – were arrested Sunday night pursuant to state court warrants as they entered the United States from Mexico – 10 days after allegedly bringing the victim to Mexico, officials stated.
Both defendants are expected to appear Wednesday in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles. They are presumed innocent unless proven guilty, officials stated.
The victim in this 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 morning from a residence in Tijuana by Mexican authorities.
According to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Navarro had an online relationship with the victim for the past year.
“A review of one of Navarro’s Instagram accounts, ‘dn.2021.01,’ revealed conversations between Navarro and A.T. on A.T.’s Instagram account in which Navarro professed his love for A.T. and discussed having sex with A.T. in order to impregnate her,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit states that Navarro used social media in 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 statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.
The FBI and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office are investigating this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Reidy of the Violent and Organized Crime Section is prosecuting this case.