A Willcox man will not have to register as a sex offender despite pleading guilty to voyeurism by hiding a cellphone in a woman’s bedroom when he did construction on her residence. A motion sensor on the phone activated the recording feature.
Francisco Javier Coronado has accepted a plea deal which assures a term of probation instead of prison for the Class 5 felony. It also guarantees Judge Timothy Dickerson of the Cochise County Superior Court cannot require Coronado to become a registered sex offender, even though Coronado admitted to having a sexual motivation in his actions.
Dickerson will, however, have the final say as to how many years Coronado must be on probation when sentencing is held Jan. 6.
Court records show Coronado, 41, came under suspicion in early November 2021 when the woman found his phone and charger while cleaning her room. She confronted Coronado, who admitted he recorded the woman without her knowledge.
Det. Marsha Callahan-English noted in a report that Coronado allowed the victim to see the videos he recorded. The victim was also able to record Coronado confessing to what he did.
The detective met with Coronado’s at his home Nov. 6, 2021, and obtained a formal confession. Coronado fully cooperated with the investigation, Callahan-English noted.
“Coronado provided me with the phone used and the passcode, as he advised he had nothing to hide since he was being honest about what he did,” the report notes.
Callahan-English further noted in her report that minor children in the residence had access to their mother’s room, creating a risk that they too could “have been recorded as well.”
Coronado was booked into the Cochise County jail that day and secured his release four days later to await trial. He was formally indicted by a county grand jury for two felonies – voyeurism as well as surreptitious recording.
That trial was set to be held in March 2023, but Coronado’s attorney Nathan Leonardo spent months negotiating a non-trial resolution with the Cochise County Attorney’s Office. A plea deal was finally accepted by the parties and the judge on Nov. 23.
The plea deal requires Dickerson to dismiss the second felony against Coronado at the time of sentencing.