Over 270 years in prison for California man who lured girls on Snapchat
A Placer Superior Court judge on Friday sentenced a 26-year-old Lincoln man to more than 270 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting girls after luring the victims on Snapchat.
On Oct. 2, a jury found Marco Antonio Garcia Montejano guilty of 27 criminal charges that included committing lewd acts with a child younger than 14 years old and other sexual assault charges, the Placer County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday in a news release.
Montejano was prosecuted for crimes committed from July 2019 through January 2022, court records show. Montejano was arrested and booked March 4, 2023, at the Placer County Jail.
Prosecutors said the investigation began when officers from the Lincoln Police Department responded to an apartment complex where Montejano had grabbed a young girl into his apartment to perform a sex act.
Investigators determined that Montejano had preyed on victims from his apartment in the same complex, first communicating with them on Snapchat, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The girls were not friends with Montejano on the popular social media platform, and they did not have any mutual friends.
Snapchat’s Snap Map shows users’ live locations on an interactive map, making nearby profiles visually discoverable, according to the D.A.’s Office. The Snapchat map often reveals bitmojis and other cues that hint at a user’s age or gender.
These are tools that pedophiles drool over as if they were designed specifically for them.
Prosecutors said that visible proximity lets predators identify and target children who appear nearby, then use in-app messaging to groom or arrange contact — unless Snapchat’s location sharing is turned off or set to ghost mode and strict friend-only settings are enforced.
Prosecutors said Montejano pretended to be a teenage boy on Snapchat, asked the girls to meet him in a public area at the apartment complex before forcing the girls into his apartment.
Police confiscated Montejano’s phone where they found child pornography and information corroborating what the sexual assault victims told investigators, according to the D.A.’s Office.
Deputy District Attorney Brandie Huggett, who prosecuted Montejano, said the defendant was constantly communicating with the girls on Snapchat, “carefully cultivating trust and emotional dependence” to manipulate the victims.
“The defendant’s conduct was not impulsive or opportunistic. It was deliberate, methodical and deeply exploitative,” Huggett said in the news release. “He invested significant time and effort into identifying, targeting and grooming his victims through Snapchat.”
Judge Garen J. Horst sentenced Montejano to 250 years to life in prison, along with an additional 24 years and four months in prison.
In response to this criminal case, the D.A.’s Office has launched the AppSafe Initiative that seeks to bring attention to these dangerous social media trends, give tips on how to put protective settings on children’s phones and keep children away from online predators.
Guntersville man gets maximum sentence after confessing to child sex abuse
By Javon Williams
Published: Nov. 3, 2025 at 10:22 AM PST|Updated: 4 hours ago
MARSHALL CO., Ala. (WAFF) - A 51-year-old Guntersville man received the maximum sentence for a child sex abuse charge on Monday.
According to the Marshall County District Attorney’s Office, James Alan Hayes entered the Geraldine Police Department on September 3, 2024, to confess to a crime.
On that day, Hayes confessed to investigators that he molested a 9-year-old while he was living in Guntersville.
James Alan Hayes received the maximum sentence for a child sex abuse charge on Monday.
Nearly a year later, Hayes entered a “blind” plea to two counts of Sexual Abuse of a Child Less than 12.
On Monday morning, Circuit Judge Matt Elliott sentenced Hayes to 40 years in prison. He will not have the opportunity for parole or good time.
“Hayes will remain in the Alabama Department of Corrections until his death or until he is almost 92 years old, whichever comes first.”
The victim in this case has been through the unimaginable and is still struggling today. I ask that our community pray for her healing. I am thankful Mr. Hayes came forward and confessed to his crimes; however, as Judge Elliot pointed out at sentencing, that does not mean he is not deserving of the maximum punishment under law.
No, but it is hardly going to encourage others to come forward and confess.
Former Miss. substitute teacher sentenced in child exploitation case
By Action News 5 Staff
Published: Nov. 3, 2025 at 12:45 PM PST|Updated: 3 hours ago
SUMNER, Miss. (WMC) - A former substitute teacher from Southaven, Mississippi, was sentenced to prison for child exploitation and sexual battery charges.
Jakalyn Moore was convicted on one count of sexual battery by a person in a position of trust and authority and one count of child exploitation. She was also sentenced to serve 15 years on a federal charge of production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Moore, who previously worked for the West Tallahatchie School District as a substitute teacher, was sentenced on October 27 by Judge Smith Murphey. She will serve 25 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with 15 years to serve and 10 years of post-release supervision.
Moore was also ordered to pay a $2,000 assessment to the Victims of Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation Fund.
She will also be required to register as a sex offender.
Her federal and state sexual battery charges will run concurrently, and she will serve her time in federal prison. She will still be subject to state post-release surveillance for ten years after her release.
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