An Orlando man who drove to the Paddock Mall in Ocala to have sex with a child will spend over 12 years behind bars.
On Friday, Senior United States Judge Gregory A. Presnell sentenced 32-year-old Victor Aguilar to 12 years and 6 months in federal prison for attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity.
According to court documents, in May of 2023, Aguilar responded to a social media post from an undercover law enforcement officer who was posing as a 15-year-old girl. Aguilar proceeded to engage in “sexually oriented conversation,” and he detailed what he planned to do with the teen.
The conversations transitioned to text messages after Aguilar gave his phone number to the undercover officer, and it led to Aguilar requesting a voice call with the teen. According to the Ocala Police Department’s arrest report, another undercover officer posing as the teen spoke with Aguilar several times over the phone, and Aguilar told the officer that he “masturbated thinking of her.”
During the phone calls with the undercover officer, Aguilar talked about the teen being 15 years old, and he mentioned that “he could get arrested,” according to the report.
The report stated that a “deeper search” into Aguilar’s criminal history revealed that he was arrested in 2014 while he was in the U.S. Marines for sexually abusing a child, enticing a child, and possessing child pornography. He was found guilty on those charges, and he was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Court records state that on May 16, 2023, Aguilar traveled to Ocala from Orlando for the sole purpose of engaging in sexual activity with the 15-year-old girl. He rented a vehicle and drove to the Paddock Mall, which is where the undercover officer posing as the teen had agreed to meet him.
Shortly after Aguilar arrived at the Paddock Mall, law enforcement officers located him and placed him under arrest.
This case was investigated by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Ocala Police Department, Citrus County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, United States Secret Service, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Belkis H. Crockett and Tyrie K. Boyer.
This is another case that 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.
To learn more about Project Safe Childhood, visit the Department of Justice’s website.