AG Balderas Announces Maximum Prison Sentence for Man Who Molested His Seven-Year-Old Granddaughter

For Immediate Release:
November 6, 2020
Contact: Matt Baca — (505) 270-7148

ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that
Francisco Saucedo was sentenced by Thirteenth Judicial District Court Judge
Christopher Pérez to 30 years in prison, the maximum amount of time allowable, for
distributing, manufacturing, and possessing child exploitation materials as well as
committing sexual acts and voyuerism against his granddaughter. In 2017, investigators
with the Office of the Attorney General became aware that Saucedo downloaded and
copied numerous digital files of child exploitation materials, which included nude images
of Saucedo’s seven-year-old granddaughter. Investigators employed the use of specially
trained forensic interviewers to speak to the young girl, who bravely disclosed that
Saucedo inappropriately touched her.
“We must protect our children from sexual predators,” said Attorney General Balderas. “I
applaud this young survivor and her family for having the fortitude to disclose Saucedo’s
crimes and see these disclosures through to convictions.”
The State and the victim’s family asked the Court to impose the maximum sentence of 30
years. When Judge Pérez handed down his sentence, he specifically noted the statement
made by the child survivor and that Saucedo’s possession, distribution, and creation of
child exploitation materials was not a victimless crime, and that it continued to victimize
the children depicted in the images and videos.
The case was brought as a part of the Office of the New Mexico Attorney General Internet
Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force mission, which is to locate, track, and capture
Internet child sexual predators and Internet child exploiters in New Mexico. The NM ICAC
Task Force consists of 89 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, which is
funded by a federal grant through OJJDP administered by the New Mexico Office of the
Attorney General. Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and
suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact law enforcement. It was prosecuted by
Assistant Attorney General Brittany DuChaussee.