Utah Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Sexual Exploitation of Two Minor Victims and Illegal Reentry

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Salt Lake City, Utah man was sentenced today for sexually exploiting two minor victims and illegally reentering the United States. Erik Santana-Garcia, 34, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to 20 years in federal prison without parole, followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Santana-Garcia received a 20-year total sentence for interstate transportation of a minor with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity, possession of child pornography, and illegally reentering the United States following a prior deportation. According to court documents, Santana-Garcia, who pleaded guilty on March 3, 2026, transported a minor, identified as Minor Victim 1, across state lines with the intent to engage in illegal sexual activity with the minor victim. Santana-Garcia left Utah with Minor Victim 1 on Nov. 10, 2024. Santana-Garcia intended to transport Minor Victim 1 to New York, but they were located in Missouri on Nov. 12, 2024, by officers with the Oak Grove, Missouri Police Department. Investigators with the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations later found child pornography depicting Minor Victim 2 on a phone seized from Santana-Garcia at his arrest. Santana-Garcia was an alien who had been previously deported and removed from the United States on multiple occasions, most recently on March 6, 2019. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Dunning. It was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Oak Grove, Missouri Police Department. Project Safe Childhood This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources." Operation Take Back America This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice 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.