Sacramento Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Minor

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Bruce Anthony Garcia, 42, of Sacramento, pled guilty today to the attempted sexual exploitation of a minor under his care, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, between Aug. 2, 2017, and Sept. 1, 2019, Garcia took hidden video recordings of the victim. He recorded the victim in various stages of undress, using the toilet or shower, or changing in a bedroom or the living room of the apartment they shared. On his devices, Garcia possessed thousands of images and videos of the victim, with the victim either partially or fully nude in several hundred of these images.

When confronted, Garcia admitted that he specifically intended to take these images and videos, that his intent in creating the images and videos was sexual, and that he generally has a sexual interest in children. Garcia described how he would wait until the victim would be getting ready for bed or to take a shower, and then place a cellphone in the bathroom or bedroom. The phone would be propped up so that it would record the minor, but would either appear to be inconspicuous, as if it were being charged, or be hidden altogether. Garcia would then connect to this device remotely using a second device such that he could watch the minor live. From the recordings thus created, Garcia would take screenshots, resulting in the images that were eventually found. Further, Garcia would sometimes manipulate these images so as to focus or zoom in on the victim’s genitals and pubic area. In a text message conversation with another person, Garcia offered to trade pictures of the victim in exchange for other child sexual abuse material.

In addition to the images and videos described above, Garcia was also found to possess approximately 4,266 images and 426 videos of other child sexual abuse material, including images and videos showing the sexual abuse of toddlers. Several of these videos also depicted violence against the victims, including at least one depicting the bondage and torture of a prepubescent female child. Garcia’s child sexual abuse collection included 110 series of known victims of child sexual abuse.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit of the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dhruv M. Sharma is prosecuting the case.

Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley on Sept. 12, 2024. Garcia faces a minimum statutory penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

This case 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 those who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.