Sierra Madre Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison for Enticing Minors to Have Sex

RIVERSIDE, CA—A 27 year old man who enticed juvenile females to engage in sexual acts was sentenced Tuesday to 240 months’ imprisonment by United States District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips, announced Andrė Birotte, Jr., the United States Attorney in Los Angeles, and Bill Lewis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

Jonathan Calvo, 27, of Sierra Madre, was convicted in September 2012. During Tuesday’s hearing, Calvo was also sentenced to lifetime supervision and fines.

On May 14, 2011, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI’s Regional Inland Apprehension Team (IRAT) were contacted after a teenager was reported missing from Riverside County, California. From that date through May 26, 2011, investigators conducted a physical search for the missing teenager, as well as a search of the victim’s online communications. Based on the victim’s online activity, investigators determined the victim had been corresponding with an adult male who was successfully identified as Calvo.

On the evening of May 26, 2011, agents and task force officers went to Calvo’s residence and rescued the endangered teenager. Subsequent interviews and evidence collected at the scene indicated that Calvo had engaged in unlawful sexual contact with the victim and that he had documented the sexual acts with a digital camera. The victim was found in the residence and returned to her parents on the evening of May 26, 2011, following a medical examination. Calvo was arrested a short time later.

During the course of the continuing investigation, evidence revealed Calvo was in receipt of and that he possessed images and videos depicting child pornography, some of which he produced himself. The digital evidence revealed that Calvo had engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with additional minor victims since at least 2004 in multiple unrelated cases, including with females aged 13 and 14, both of whom were successfully identified and later interviewed.

On August 3, 2011, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against the defendant, Jonathan Paul Calvo, charging him with sexual exploitation of a child and receipt and possession of child pornography. In March 2012, Calvo was charged in a first superseding indictment with additional violations stemming from new evidence. In September 2012, Calvo pleaded guilty to one count of enticing a minor to engage in sex.

During the investigation, investigators found dozens of images and videos Calvo had taken depicting sexually explicit activity with the minor victims he enticed to his home, as well as many he received online depicting victims of sexual exploitation previously identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The successful conclusion of this case is the result of a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, and additional IRAT member agencies, including the Riverside Police Department and the San Bernardino Police Department. The defendant was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office, Riverside Branch, in the Central District of California.

Media Contact:

Assistant United States Attorney Ami Sheth: 951 276-6228
U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Relations: 213 894-6947
FBI Press Relations: 310 996-3343