Pasco man sent to prison after trying to meet child at a hotel for sex while off his meds
A Pasco man has been sentenced to seven years in prison and a lifetime of probation after he attempted to meet a 13 year old for sex at a Richland motel while he was off his mental health medication.
Julio Cesar Anaya, 45, responded to a website advertisement of a Kennewick detective posing as a young girl in early spring 2023.
Over the next three weeks they communicated by text and email, with him sending nude pictures and asking who he thought was a girl to come to his house. At one point he offered to pay for an Uber so she could visit him.
He asked her to send nude photos, but not to show her face in them, and when she asked for a photo of his face so she could see what he looked like, he refused until finally sending a photo that showed just part of his face.
He also told her that she should delete all their messages and his phone number.
Anaya knew his conduct was wrong, or he would not have attempted to avoid identification, said U.S. Assistant Attorney Laurel Holland in court documents.
In April, he booked a hotel room in Richland because he believed it was near her home and made clear in messages that his intention was to have sex.
He arrived at the hotel with two cell phones, notes to remind him of things he wanted to say to her and a sandwich, plus condoms and other items that suggested he intended to have sex.
Eastern Washington U.S. District Court cases are heard at the federal courthouse in Yakima, Wash.
He was arrested at the hotel by Richland Police Department detectives.
A search of his phones found more than 300 images of child pornography.
The prosecution asked U.S. Judge Stanley Bastian for a prison sentence of 10 years or receipt of child pornography, even though a five year sentence was more common.
“The government would submit to this court that the defendant’s conduct and attempt to meet a child for sexual intercourse is a marked departure from other receipt of child pornography cases in this district,” Holland said in court documents.
Charges of attempted online enticement and possession of child pornography were dropped as part of a plea deal.
Family sought mental illness help
Anaya’s attorney, Alex Hernandez III, said in court documents that officers who arrested Anaya quickly suspected he had mental health issues.
Anaya accused the officers of reading his thoughts, indicated that others were causing him to make decisions to have sex with the child, and said people around him were causing him pain, his attorney said in a court document.
Anaya’s family said in letters to the judge that Anaya had previously briefly enlisted in the Navy and had worked as a long-haul truck driver but had lost both opportunities due to his mental illness.
They had sought help for him, but were told that it could not be forced on him unless he committed a crime. When that happened, he was sent to a Spokane hospital and diagnosed with schizophrenia, his family told the judge.
The medicine he was prescribed there helped until he stopped taking it and his symptoms worsened, they said.
Anaya’s attorney recommended a prison sentence of seven years, and agreed with a prosecution recommendation that after prison he remain on probation for the rest of his life.
Probation conditions of mental health counseling and consistent use of medication would do more to protect the public and deter Anaya from committing crimes than a long prison sentence, Hernandez said.
Bastian, ruling in the Yakama federal courthouse, also ordered Anaya to pay $24,000 to identified victims in the child pornography he possessed.
“The sentence sends a strong message that abusing children will not be tolerated, whether it is downloading and possessing child pornography, trying to meet children for sex, or any other form of child exploitation,” said Robert Manner, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations in the Pacific Northwest.
The case was investigated by the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including the Richland and Kennewick police departments.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.
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