Southwest Key Worker Guilty Of UAC Sexual Abuse

A former employee of Southwest Key, Levian D. Pacheco, age 25, was convicted on seven counts of abusive sexual contact with a ward of Southwest Key and three counts of sexual abuse of a Southwest Key ward. Southwest Key is a contractor for the Office Of Refugee resettlement tasked with processing and providing temporary care to Unaccompanied Alien Children.

U.S. District Judge Steven P. Logan presided over the seven-day trial. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 3, 2018.

Between August 2016 and July 2017, Pacheco sexually abused multiple Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) at the Casa Kokopelli Southwest Key Facility in Mesa, Ariz.

Pacheco was employed as a youth care worker at the facility and was in charge of supervising the minors. The jury convicted Pacheco of abusing seven teenage boys, some on more than one occasion.

During the Obama administration, Southwest Key employees attempted to reach out to Arizona and federal government officials with concerns about alleged maltreatment. Caseworkers, who feared retribution, alleged heinous treatment of UACs, crimes including their belief that UACs were being turned over to cartels for sale, but they were ignored.

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