Previously deported Mexican national sentenced to 20 years for sexual exploitation of Utah minor

A Mexican national residing in Utah who illegally entered the US has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the sexual exploitation of two minors as well as illegal reentry into the US after being deported.

Erik Santana-Garcia, 34, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to 20 years in prison without parole as well as a lifetime of supervised release after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to transporting a minor female from Utah across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual exploitation of the minor.

Santana-Garcia had intended to go to New York but was stopped in Missouri on November 12, 2024 by police with the Oak Grove, Missouri Police Department. Investigators with the Department of Homeland Security also found child pornography on his phone depicting a second minor when his device was seized during his arrest.

Santana-Garcia had been previously deported and removed from the United States "on multiple occasions," according to the Department of Justice. His most recent removal was in March 2019. According to the Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration, the minor was 15 years of age.

Santana-Garcia, also known as "Erik Cayetano," was also charged with possession of a firearm as an alien at the time of his arrest. The case is being prosecuted by the Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Dunning and was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Oak Grove, Missouri Police Department.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, which is a nationwide project to combat child sexual exploitation that was launched in 2006. It was also part of Operation Take Back America, which seeks to "repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime."