SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico– United States District Court Judge Aida Delgado-Colón sentenced Ángel Gabriel Díaz-Rosado, a youth basketball coach from Toa Baja to 15 years in prison and 15 years of supervised release. Díaz-Rosado was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents in 2019 after being charged for attempted production of child pornography, coercion and enticement of minors, and transfer of obscene material to a minor.
According to court documents, Ángel Gabriel Díaz-Rosado plead guilty on June 20, 2023, for enticement and coercion of a 13-year-old male minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct, knowing that such visual depiction would be transported in and affecting interstate and foreign commerce by using any means and facility of interstate and foreign commerce.
In March of 2019, the defendant was a youth basketball coach for minor males. During such period, Díaz Rosado used his cell phone via the WhatsApp messaging application to communicate and request sexually explicit images of a 13-year-old male minor he coached. Díaz Rosado communicated with the male minor in a sexually explicit manner, requested images of the minor’s penis, and videos of the minor masturbating. The minor complied with the requests and sent the sexually explicit images to Díaz Rosado.
“The actions of this individual in this case were nothing short of reprehensible,” said W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. “He shamefully targeted minors who were under his care. The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to protecting children from abuse and holding accountable those individuals who would victimize minors.”
HSI Special Agent in Charge Rebecca González-Ramos said: “We must be vigilant and unwavering in our commitment to stop predators, especially the ones serving in public trust positions. This individual was a former basketball coach and a Physical Education teacher; we feel that justice was served with today’s sentence. HSI will continue its efforts to protect our children and will continue to collaborate with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to investigate and apprehend those who attempt to abuse them.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Child Exploitation and Immigration Unit, Jenifer Y. Hernández-Vega, prosecuted the case.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) led the investigation with the assistance of the Puerto Rico Police Bureau and the Puerto Rico Department of Family.
For more information about HSI’s efforts to protect children from sexual predators, visit https://www.ice.gov/topics/iGuardians; and to report suspicious activities, call 787-729-6969.
