California Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison for Attempted Production of Child Pornography

SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced today that Chief U.S. Judge Roberto A. Lange has sentenced a Thermal, California, man convicted of Attempted Production of Child Pornography.  The sentencing took place on February 9, 2026.

Juan Pedro Gobea, age 34, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, five years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100.  Once released from federal prison, Gobea must register as a sex offender.

Gobea was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2024.  He pleaded guilty on November 3, 2025.

The conviction stemmed from an undercover chat operation in March 2024, when Gobea attempted to persuade someone he believed to be a 15-year-old girl to send him sexually explicit images.  Gobea used his online Reddit account with username “saviourtaste” to ask the persona for nude pictures.  Gobea was actually conversing with an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a 15-year-old girl from South Dakota.

This case was investigated by the SD ICAC Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Ebert-Webb prosecuted the case.

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

Gobea was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.