Kissimmee man sentenced to 40 years for sexual exploitation
A U.S. District Judge has sentenced a Kissimmee man to 40 years in federal prison for sexual exploitation of a child.
The court also ordered Rafael Antonio Bracero-Navas, 50, to forfeit the cellphone that he had used to commit the offense. A jury had found Bracero-Navas guilty of seven counts of sexual exploitation of a child on March 4 of this year.
According to testimony and evidence at trial, Bracero-Navas used a cellphone to take explicit photos of the minor’s pubic area covertly from outside a bathroom door, taking pictures through the crack under the door, as the minor was stepping out of the shower. Although Bracero-Navas had deleted the full-sized images from his phone, thumbnail images remained and were later discovered by law enforcement.
A Unites State Attorney for the Middle District of Florida said, in addition to surreptitiously taking those pictures, Bracero-Navas had on multiple occasions engaged in other sexually abusive behaviors toward the minor, including repeatedly forcibly kissing the minor against her will and touching the minor’s genitals without the minor’s consent.
“As heartbreaking as it is to work these kinds of investigations, it’s rewarding to see the lengthy prison sentences handed down to these sexual predators,” said FBI Tampa Division Special Agent in Charge David Walker. “The FBI is committed to the work of exposing these abusers and ensuring they are brought to justice.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Davenport cocaine importer sent to federal prison
A U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton, sentenced a Davenport man to 5 years and 10 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
David Torres-Velez, 48, had pleaded guilty on April 20.
According to court documents, Torres-Velez was involved in multiple kilogram-level cocaine transactions over the course of 2020 and 2021. On Feb. 4, 2020, law enforcement stopped an individual in his vehicle leaving a Tampa store, who was found to be carrying two kilograms of cocaine. Minutes later, law enforcement stopped Torres-Velez as he left the same store. When Torres-Velez’s car was stopped and searched, Torres-Velez was found to be carrying $2,480 in a black satchel and another $53,400 in cash in a hidden compartment in his car.
In a separate investigation, DEA identified Torres-Velez as a source of cocaine that was being sent through the U.S. Mail. On Aug. 17, 2020, Torres-Velez arranged to have a package sent from Puerto Rico to an address in Orlando where he attempted to recover that shipment. Law enforcement identified, seized, and searched the package and found it to contain two kilograms of cocaine. On Jan. 20, 2021, the DEA learned that Torres-Velez was carrying another kilogram of cocaine. Those drugs were seized during a traffic stop.
The DEA and the FBI investigated this case, with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Florida Highway Patrol, and the Tampa Police Department.
