MIAMI – Investigators reported that a Miami-Dade County sexual predator thought that he was meeting a teenage victim at a McDonald’s restaurant, but a law enforcement team was waiting to arrest him instead.
On Monday, federal inmate records show Rafael Antonio Saldana was at the Federal Detention Center in Downtown Miami with an unknown release date.
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Investigators accused Saldana, 39, of asking three teenagers aged 14, 16, and 17 for sexual images, attempting to sexually abuse the youngest, and carrying over 60 images showing child sex abuse.
Homeland Security Investigations Miami, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office worked on the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Audrey Pence Tomanelli and Arielle Klepach were the prosecutors.
On Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that a federal judge in Miami had sentenced Saladana to over 38 years in prison.
A jury had found him guilty in October of three counts of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, attempted production of visual depictions involving the sexual exploitation of minors, receipt of visual depictions involving the sexual exploitation of minors, and possession of visual depictions involving the sexual exploitation of minors.