Former Arizona man sentenced to prison for producing child pornography

PHOENIX — A man from Texas was sentenced to 40 years in prison for producing child pornography when he lived in Phoenix, authorities said.

Michael Martinez of Texas, 28, was living in a Phoenix home in January 2016 with a mother and her 7-year-old child, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said.

Prosecutors said that during Martinez’s time as the mother’s roommate, he took sexually explicit photos and videos of her child, officials said.

Later in 2016, he moved into another residence, where he was a roommate for a woman with two children, aged 5 and 3.

Although the mother trusted him to babysit her children, Martinez took sexually explicit pictures and videos of both of them, prosecutors said.

Authorities: He targeted mothers so he could keep producing child pornography

In 2017, he moved to Texas after sexually abusing the three children, officials said. He even admitted to “engaging in sex acts” with the three young children, prosecutors said.

Gary Restaino, the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, said the pain and harm Martinez inflicted upon the children is “irreparable.”

“The court’s sentence sends a strong message of deterrence to those who seek to hurt children,” he said in a statement.

FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Myron Byrd hoped this sentencing would bring justice to the victims.

“Children deserve to feel and be safe in their homes,” he said in a statement. “Today’s sentencing should bring some closure to the families knowing this predator will be in federal prison for a very long time.”