Individual Arrested for Child Exploitation

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – On June 26, 2025, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging Juan Edgardo Negrón-Navarro, age 27, of Jayuya, PR, with coercion and enticement of minors, sexual exploitation of children, and interstate threat communications. Today, FBI special agents arrested Negrón-Navarro. 

According to court documents, from in or about April 2023 to in or about May 2023, Juan Edgardo Negrón-Navarro did knowingly employ, use, persuade, induce, entice, and coerce a female minor between 15 and 16 years old (Minor 1) to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct. The defendant produced sexually explicit images of such conduct. Negrón-Navarro threatened Minor 1 by threatening to post the sexually explicit images on the Internet and to damage her reputation if she did not comply with sending sexually explicit images to him.

Additionally, from in or about September 2024 to in or about November 2024, Juan Edgardo Negrón-Navarro did knowingly employ, use, persuade, induce, entice, and coerce another female minor while she was 17 years of age (Minor 2), to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct. At the same time, the defendant produced sexually explicit images of such conduct.

Moreover, on or about August 3, 2024, Negrón-Navarro, through the Internet, threatened to kill an adult female if she did not send him sexually explicit images.

The defendant is scheduled for his initial court appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marcos E. López of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. If convicted, the defendant faces a minimum term or imprisonment of 15 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years for the charge of sexual exploitation of children; a minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years up to life for the charge of coercion and enticement of a minor; and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years for the charge of interstate communications. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow of the District of Puerto Rico; and Devin J. Kowalski, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Juan Field Office made the announcement.  

“Child exploitation, in all its forms, are the most heinous crimes a person can commit, and the emotional pain inflicted on the victims is overwhelming,” said W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners are fully committed to identify, locate, arrest, and prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law. Nonetheless, the community, including teachers and parents, must be vigilant and proactive with our children and educate them on how to protect themselves from these offenders.”

“There is no place in Puerto Rico—or anywhere in America—for child predators,” said Devin J. Kowalski, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s San Juan Field Office. “If you exploit children, the heroic men and women of the FBI and our law enforcement partners are coming for you—no matter how long it takes or how much you try to hide.  That is a promise we intend to keep, every single time.”

The FBI is investigating the case with the collaboration of the Puerto Rico Police Bureau.

Assistant US Attorney (AUSA) Emelina Agrait-Barreto of the Child Exploitation and Immigration Unit is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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