Arizona firefighter sentenced to 24 years in prison for taking nude photos of 14-year-old girl

An Arizona firefighter who previously pleaded guilty to producing child sexual abuse material that included a 14-year-old girl was sentenced earlier this month to more than 24 years in prison, officials said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona identified the firefighter as 39-year-old Agustin Julian Sauceda from Casa Grande. He used to be employed as an Eloy Fire Battalion Chief.

Sauceda’s time in prison will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

“No one should exploit and sexually victimize children, least of all a public servant entrusted with serving his community,” U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine said in a news release. “This case demonstrates that proactive law enforcement work in child pornography cases is critical to not only identify individuals clicking on illicit images, but also to uncover even more serious offenses, as occurred here.”

What led to the Arizona firefighter being sentenced?

According to prosecutors, Sauceda was detected distributing child sexual abuse images in a file sharing network between June and September 2024.

An examination of his devices on Oct. 30, 2024, resulted in the discovery of 5,063 files of a nude or partially nude 14-year-old girl that were taken by Sauceda between August 2022 and July 2024.

In addition, he had around 14,098 child sexual abuse material files of prepubescent children from the internet.

The investigation into the case was conducted by Homeland Security Investigation, which was assisted by the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office and Casa Grande Police Department.

“He betrayed that trust in the most egregious way possible,” Jason T. Stevens, special agent in charge for HSI Arizona, said. “Today’s sentencing sends a clear message: those who abuse positions of public trust to harm children will be held fully accountable.”

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