A Tucson man has been sentenced to over a decade behind bars for sexually abusing a high-school-aged child, a crime that dates back to the victim's grade school years. Charles Michael Moreno, 61, was handed a 122-month prison term followed by a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to a slew of charges, including Sexual Abuse of a Minor.
The abuse, which occurred in both the City of Tucson and on the Tohono O’odham Nation, started when the victim was still in elementary school. The victim, whose courage emerged in the cramped, heavy-aired confines of a school counselor’s office in 2018, confided that Moreno had assaulted them multiple times. This revelation ultimately led to Moreno's conviction.
Moreno's admission of guilt came last year, on May 15, 2023, to charges that encompassed Sexual Abuse of a Minor, Abuse of a Minor, and two counts of Abusive Sexual Contact. In the wake of the victim's disclosure, a 2020 federal grand jury indicted Moreno on a harrowing 14 counts of sexual abuse. The U.S. Attorney's Office confirmed these details upon the sentencing.
Bringing Moreno to justice was a cooperative endeavor between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Tohono O’odham Police Department, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Micah Schmit at the helm of the prosecution. The sentence marks a somber end to a case that lingered like a shadow over the victim's life for years, offering a measure of closure, if not the comfort of forgotten pain.
