Ex-Sewall's Point police officer ordered to prison in lewd texting case involving teen boy
A former Sewall's Point police officer will spend nearly 26 years in federal prison, a judge ordered Monday, for charges related to using his cell phone to solicit sex from a teenage boy he’d befriended, court records show.
Juan Antonio Garcia, 31, initially was arrested in December 2021 by the Martin County Sheriff's Office on two counts of lewd computer solicitation of a child and one count of traveling to meet a minor for unlawful sexual activity following an investigation that began the month before, according to court filings.
Garcia was then arrested on two federal offenses following a criminal complaint unsealed Dec. 3, 2021 that detailed how sheriff's officials began investigating him after the boy's father discovered messages on his son's phone. The father then allowed detectives to use the phone to communicate with Garcia, which included lewd messages.
Garcia has been held in detention since his federal arrest.
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The Stuart teen knew Garcia for five years and worked for him at a taco truck business he operated when not on police duty, detectives reported.
Investigators observed Garcia send text messages to the boy and arranged to meet him at a park in Stuart to engage in sexual activity. Garcia also sent lewd text messages to the teen asking to go to a nude beach together and to take sexually explicit photos.
When Garcia arrived at a park expecting to meet the boy, he was arrested by investigators and confronted about the string of inappropriate messages, arrest reports show.
Guilty pleas and 'big mistake'
In April, Garcia pleaded guilty to attempted production of visual depiction of sexual exploitation of minors, and attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity.
He faced from 15 years up to life in prison, records show.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacey Bergstrom, in a sentencing memo submitted to U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, sought a prison term in excess of 30 years.
Garcia, she noted, “took advantage of an existing familiar and supervisory relationship to attempt to sexually abuse and exploit a 15-year-old boy for his own sexual gratification.
“Perhaps what makes the defendant’s conduct most egregious is that he committed these acts while actively on duty as a Sewall’s Point police officer,” Bergstrom wrote. “Instead of protecting the community, the defendant chose to spend his overnight shift relentlessly pursuing sexually explicit images and, eventually, a sexual encounter with a minor.”
In labeling Garcia a “dangerous predator in the community he clamed to serve,” Bergstrom urged he receive a sentence that signaled “such behavior is abhorrent and will be punished harshly.”
Garcia’s attorney, Jeff T. Gorman, in court papers urged Cannon to impose a minimum prison term and noted he had no criminal record and “has a strong record of community involvement.”
“At the time of the offense, Mr. Garcia was suffering from multiple issues in his life and was not in a proper state of mind,” Gorman wrote.
His father was ill, his mother was unemployed and the family’s food truck business had ceased operations.
“The family was shocked that he was capable of undertaking such actions,” Gorman added.
Garcia, in a handwritten letter to Cannon, pleaded for leniency and admitted he’d “made a big mistake in his life.”
He’d lost his way, he wrote, “after some life hardships, which has now, not only cost me my career, business and freedom but also my biggest jewel, my family.”
During his five years as a Sewall’s Point police officer, Garcia was awarded rookie of the year and officer of the year awards, he wrote.
He described supporting nonprofit groups in Martin County, including offering free meals from his food truck during the pandemic.
“I am extremely upset with myself for allowing all this to occur and the ‘sexting’ to continue as far as it did,” Garcia wrote. “That is why I pray to God for forgiveness each and every day.”
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During a sentencing hearing Monday, Cannon imposed two 310-month prison terms, or about 25.8 years, to be served at the same time, followed by 20 years of supervision, records show. Garcia also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and a $10,000 special assessment.
He still faces three state charges and was scheduled to appear Wednesday before Martin Circuit Judge Sherwood Bauer.
Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers, and is writer and co-host of Uncertain Terms, a true crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Former Sewall's Point officer ordered to prison in lewd texting case
