Former Valley firefighter sentenced to prison for sexually abusing children for years

A former firefighter who sexually abused children for over a decade has been sentenced to 35 years in prison, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

Nicholas Michael Cruz sexually abused the girls at several residences in Goodyear between 2012 and 2024, prosecutors said.

The 43-year-old, who previously worked with the Sun City Fire Department, sexually abused one of the victims several times a week when she was 6 years old, continuing until she was 16.

“This defendant caused irreparable harm to five young girls,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a Monday news release.

Cruz pleaded guilty to sexual conduct with a minor, molestation of a child, attempted molestation of a child, sexual abuse and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, prosecutors said.

How did police learn former firefighter had been sexually abusing children?

Investigators first learned Cruz had been sexually abusing children in June 2024, after one of the victims told her mother he had been molesting her since she was 8 years old, prosecutors said.

The mother contacted the Goodyear Police Department, which discovered the other victims during an investigation. At the time the first girl reported the abuse, the victims ranged in age from 7 to 16 years old.

Police also found evidence of the sexual abuse on his personal devices, which had hundreds of “inappropriate images” of the victims, prosecutors said. In addition to the photos he took, there was also child sexual abuse material on his devices from unknown sources.

After one of the children’s mothers confronted Cruz, he fled to California, but Goodyear Police tracked him down to Palm Springs, and he was brought back to Arizona.

“Thanks to the diligent work of the Goodyear Police Department and sex crimes prosecutor William Heydenreich, he was found and brought to justice in Maricopa County,” Mitchell said. “He will now spend decades in prison for his crimes.”

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