A Florida man received a 32-year prison sentence for luring three Arizona children into sexual exploitation through a well-known online video game.
According to a statement from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Jacob Lozano, 24, was sentenced on Friday to 17 years for one act of sexual exploitation and 15 years for another count of sexual exploitation, to be served concurrently.
During the sentencing hearing, one of the victim’s fathers discussed Lozano’s impact on his family.
“It was as if our own home had been broken into, but there was no broken lock, there was no broken glass, but make no mistake, our home was forever broken from that moment on. The tears, the doubt, the hundreds of hours of counseling, nothing has healed the house ever since,” he said.
Scottsdale police launched an investigation after a mother discovered sexually explicit images on her 11-year-old son’s phone and alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. A man in Florida sent the photographs, they discovered.
According to court documents, Lozano met three boys while playing Fortnite online, pretending to be 16 years old.
According to court filings, after making contact, Lozano switched from in-game chat to Discord, a gaming communication network.
Detectives took over one of the victims’ accounts and continued the conversation with Lozano, which ended with Lozano providing a total of twenty videos and photographs of sexually explicit material, including kids.
During his sentencing, Lozano assured the court he would change and apologized personally to the families, citing Bible texts. “According to Colossians 3:9-10 and Ephesians 4:23-24, you should peel off your old personality and put on a new one in order to be renewed in your dominating mental attitude. I intend to try for long-term transformation, and I have the support I need. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but with the help of my family and friends, I am confident that I can change,” he stated.
Lozano pled guilty in December to three counts of luring juveniles and two counts of sexual exploitation, according to court records.
For three counts of enticing minors, he also received a life sentence on probation.
