Press Release
Father And Son Convicted Of Scheme To Transport Minor Child Between Croatia And Florida For Sexual Activity
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida
Tampa, Florida – A federal jury has found Jordan Jysae Pulido (27, Trinity) guilty of enticement and coercion of minor, traveling out of the country to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and transporting a minor into the United States to engage in sexual activity. The jury also found Pulido and his father, Roberto Santana Jimenez (62, Trinity), guilty of conspiracy to transport a minor into the country to engage in sexual activity. Pulido and Jimenez face a minimum mandatory of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison. The sentencing hearings are scheduled for January 13, 2022.
Pulido and Jimenez were indicted on September 24, 2020.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, in September 2017, then 23-year-old Pulido met a 14-year-old child on an online social networking website. At the time, Pulido lived in Florida and the child resided in Croatia. Pulido began a teacher-student relationship with the child and promised to teach the child to play the guitar. After a few months of guitar lessons, Pulido began to pursue a romantic and sexual relationship with the child. For nearly a year, Pulido used the internet to entice and coerce the child to engage in sexual activity with him. During this time, Pulido and Jimenez planned Pulido’s trip to Croatia, and Pulido sought Jimenez’s advice on how to persuade the child to have sex with him when he (Pulido) traveled to Croatia. Jimenez coached Pulido on what to do and say to the child and communicated directly with the child about her relationship with Pulido in an effort to further persuade and coerce her.
On June 14, 2018, Pulido traveled from Florida to Croatia, proposed marriage to the child on her 15th birthday, and engaged in sexual activity with the child. In the month that followed, Pulido and his father conspired to transport and traffic the child from Croatia to Florida so that Pulido could engage in sexual activity with the child. On or about July 23, 2018, Pulido transported the child victim from Croatia to Florida for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with the child. Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement rescued the child victim from the Pulido/Jimenez family home in Trinity on August 12, 2018.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, the Koprivnica-Križevac County Police Administration of the Republic of Croatia Ministry of the Interior Criminal Police, and the International Criminal Police Organization. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lisa M. Thelwell.
This is another case 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Updated October 29, 2021
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Project Safe Childhood
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