FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 22, 2017
Contact: James Hallinan (505) 660-2216
Office of the Attorney General special agents, prosecutors and criminal appeals attorneys worked this case from start to finish
Albuquerque, NM – This morning, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that pediatrician Juan Torres Santos, who was found guilty of one count of Sexual Exploitation of Children in October 2015, lost his appeal to the New Mexico Court of Appeals. Torres Santos was previously a licensed pediatrician in Pennsylvania and in Texas, and was working on his application for a medical license in New Mexico at the time of his arrest. Torres Santos appealed his conviction claiming there was not sufficient evidence he intentionally possessed child pornography and that the district court should not have allowed the Office of the Attorney General to show the jury evidence of the child pornography. The Court of Appeals agreed with the Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Appeals Division and upheld Torres Santos’ conviction.
“I applaud the Office of the Attorney General Special Investigations Division, ICAC Unit, who assisted with the investigation, the Special Prosecutions Division who successfully prosecuted, and the Criminal Appeals Division with whom the Court of Appeals agreed by affirming Mr. Santos Torres’ conviction,” said Attorney General Hector Balderas. “This case demonstrates there is no higher priority for my office than the protection of our innocent children in New Mexico.”
Please see attached for a photo of Torres Santos and the Court of Appeals opinion.
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