A former childcare worker at the now-closed Chattanooga migrant facility in Highland Park, who was earlier charged with having sexual relations with a minor, has pleaded guilty to a federal charge.
Florencia Renderos Morales, 24, currently of Houston, Texas, entered a guilty plea to one count of obstruction of justice.
Sentencing has been set for Jan. 12, 2024, at 10 a.m. before Judge Charles E. Atchley, Jr., in United States District Court at Chattanooga.
Ms. Morales faces a term of up to 20 years in federal prison, $500,000 in fines, and supervised release of three years.
According to court documents, Ms. Morales was an employee of La Casa de Sydney, a housing facility for undocumented and unaccompanied minor children.
While at the facility, she engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct directed toward minor residents who were in their late teens, it was stated.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Chattanooga Police Department initiated an investigation into Ms. Morales’s conduct and the conduct of others at La Casa de Sydney.
Court documents indicate that the defendant became aware that she was the object of this investigation, and she contacted other involved individuals about ways to evade detection. Ms. Morales discussed who she believed reported her conduct to authorities, and she urged one former minor resident of La Casa de Sydney to delete electronic evidence that was relevant to the investigation.
U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III said, "This prosecution is the result of a joint investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations and the Chattanooga Police Department Special Victims Unit, with assistance from the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorneys Kyle Wilson and Jay Woods represent the United States in this action."
In the earlier case, a youth testified that she kissed him while he was 17 and she was 21. That charge was downgraded to a misdemeanor and eventually dismissed.