New Jersey man sentenced for trips to Sacramento area to have sex with seventh-grader
A federal judge has sentenced a 23-year-old New Jersey man to 12 years and six months in prison for traveling to the Sacramento area to have sex with a Placer County seventh-grader, who he picked up at a middle school before taking her to a nearby hotel, prosecutors said.
Michael Anaya-Otero of Elizabeth, New Jersey, also used Snapchat and Instagram to develop an online relationship with a 14-year-old girl from El Dorado County in June 2017. He asked this girl to send him sexually explicit images and he kept at least one image from this girl on his cellphone, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento.
The federal prosecutors said Anaya-Otero boarded flights from New Jersey to Sacramento in April 2016 and January 2017 to have sex with the Placer County girl. He picked her up from her middle school and drove her to the hotel, where he had sex with her, according to the news release. They said he kept a photo of their “sexual contact” on his phone.
The prosecutors also said that Anaya-Otero was detained in 2018 as he tried to enter Canada by car. He told a Canadian border agent that he was traveling to Canada to meet a 15-year-old girl he communicated with on social media.
Anaya-Otero was denied entry into Canada and authorities discovered child pornography images on his phone when he was returned to the U.S., prosecutors said.
He was arrested Jan. 5, 2018, in New Jersey following research by a Homeland Security Investigations team working under the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A federal grand jury indicted him a few weeks later.
In an August 2019 plea deal with prosecutors, Anaya-Otero pleaded guilty to two counts each of traveling interstate with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and enticement of a minor, according to court records.
U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez sentenced Anaya-Otero on Tuesday. The judge also ordered him to serve five years of probation once he’s released from prison.
As part of his probation, Anaya-Otero must register with authorities as a sex offender, must submit a DNA sample when ordered, must not have access to a cell phone or possess a computer or digital device with online access unless given permission by a probation officer, must not have any contact with children and must stay 100 feet away from schools or places known to have children, according to court records.
U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said Anaya-Otero’s criminal conduct was only interrupted when he was arrested two years ago.
“This predator carefully planned his contacts with victims and earned their trust.” Scott said in the news release. “He traveled across the country, not once but twice.”
