A Safford man, Richard Lee Molinar, was sentenced in federal court to 60 months in prison for child exploitation offenses.
Molinar earlier pleaded guilty to Possession of Child Pornography.
On July 7, 2021, Molinar was charged by a six-count indictment that alleged he received, possessed, and distributed child pornography between March 1, 2020, and April 1, 2021. Molinar pleaded guilty to count one of the indictment on June 23, 2022, which charged that on or about April 1, 2021, he possessed child pornography. Molinar admitted to possessing a phone which he used to access, download, save, and view images and 13 videos depicting minor children, many under the age of 12, who were engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Molinar received and distributed these images and videos using Facebook Messenger.
Upon release, Molinar will be placed on lifetime supervised release with sex offender conditions and will be required to register as a sex offender.