OAKLAND – Adalberto Borja Guardado was sentenced today in federal court to 200 months in prison for the sexual coercion of a minor, announced United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Tatum King. United States District Judge Jeffrey S. White handed down the sentence.
In his plea agreement, Guardado, a 68-year-old grandfather from San Pablo, admitted that on September 9, 2019, a three-year-old girl visited his residence with her mother. The girl’s mother provided home health care to Guardado’s elderly mother. Guardado told the girl’s mother that he would watch the girl while the mother provided the home care to Guardado’s elderly mother in another part of the residence. Within minutes of watching the girl, Guardado pulled the girl’s pants down and molested her. He used his cell phone to record the molestation.
In a court filing, the government described that the girl disclosed the molestation to her mother the next day, and the mother reported it to San Pablo police. Police investigated the report, seizing three smartphones from Guardado. A video of the molestation was discovered on a smartphone seized from Guardado’s person. Forensic review of all three smartphones revealed multiple additional images of child pornography.
Guardado was arrested on September 14, 2019 – five days after the incident – and has remained in custody since that date. Though originally charged in state court, Guardado was charged on June 10, 2021, in federal court with enticement and coercion of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b). Guardado pleaded guilty to the federal charge on September 7, 2021.
In addition to a 200 month term of imprisonment, United States District Judge Jeffrey S. White sentenced Guardado to a 15 year term of supervision following his prison term. Guardado begins serving his prison sentence immediately.
Jonathan U. Lee is the Assistant United States Attorney who is prosecuting the case, with the assistance of Leeya Kekona, Kay Konopaske, and Kathleen Turner. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the San Pablo Police Department.
This federal case was brought in United States District Court as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat a growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorney’s Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.