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Texas Man Who Took Off With 15-Year-Old East Tennessee Girl Gets 10-Year Sentence

  • Wednesday, August 14, 2024

A 32-year-old Texas man who took off with a 15-year-old East Tennessee girl after exchanging explicit pictures and videos with her will have to do 10 years in federal prison.

Johnathan Lucino Salazar appeared before Federal Judge Travis McDonough after earlier pleading guilty to illicit sexual contact.

Authorities said Salazar in May and June 2022 communicated with the girl by phone, text and social media. He told her he was 20.

Their conversations "were overwhelmingly sexual in nature."

Authorities said Salazar indicated he wanted to have sex with the girl and film the encounters.

He sent her more than $500 via Cash App.

In early June, 2022, Salazar traveled to East Tennessee and picked up the girl in his pickup truck. They were finally located, using data from their cellphones, at a motel in Meridian, Miss., with two other individuals.

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