A San Diego man who solicited teenagers for sex over more than two years was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in federal prison, after his own 911 call following an attempted carjacking led investigators straight to him. Jose De Jesus Anguiano, sentenced to 168 months followed by 10 years of supervised release, had pleaded guilty to one count of Coercion and Enticement of a Minor.
U.S. District Judge Benjamin J. Cheeks handed down the sentence in Courtroom 3A at the federal courthouse in San Diego, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Anguiano formally entered his guilty plea on February 24, admitting to the single federal count under Title 18, United States Code, Section 2422. As reported by NBC 7 San Diego, prosecutors said Anguiano repeatedly solicited minors for sex between April 2022 and August 2024, targeting four minors between the ages of 13 and 17.
An Offer of Drugs, Cash, and Alcohol
According to federal court filings, Anguiano inserted himself into local youth populations using social media platforms, offering to act as an underage hookup for alcohol, marijuana, and cash in exchange for sexual acts. Prosecutors said he offered money, marijuana, and alcohol to the four minors, and, per NBC 7 San Diego, raped a 14-year-old girl after agreeing to give her marijuana. The same outlet reported that Anguiano attempted to coerce all four minors into engaging in sexual acts with him, per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The case broke open in an unlikely way. On August 29, 2024, Anguiano agreed to meet a minor for sex, but the minor's trafficker instead tried to carjack him and held him up at gunpoint in an alley during the planned rendezvous, the Justice Department said. Anguiano then called 911 to report the attempted carjacking — a decision that ultimately unraveled his own crimes, as San Diego police officers quickly put together the facts, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors Call Out the Irony
U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon highlighted the unusual circumstances that led to Anguiano's capture, saying, “the law is not your shield or your weapon. The law belongs to the victims.” Once officers connected the dots, they called in the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, a multi-agency cooperative led by the California Department of Justice that combines local police departments, the FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations with federal prosecutors.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lyndzie M. Carter and Derek Ko under the Southern District of California's Special Victims Unit, which was established in April 2025 to handle child exploitation and sex trafficking cases. Federal charges under 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison up to life imprisonment, along with at least 5 years of supervised release, according to Eisner Gorin LLP. Anguiano's 14-year sentence exceeded that statutory floor by four years.
Part of a Broader Regional Crackdown
The prosecution falls under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 to combat internet-based child exploitation. The San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force has stayed active this year: in July, it executed Operation Iron Justice, resulting in 27 sex buyer arrests and the rescue of nine trafficking victims, including two juveniles, as Hoodline previously reported.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a statement following the sentencing emphasizing that crimes against children will never be tolerated in California, reaffirming state support for the task force's regional operations. It is one of several recent San Diego County cases involving minors and task force investigations, including a hotel bust in San Marcos earlier this year and another federal trafficking sentence handed down in May.
What remains unresolved is the fate of the armed trafficker who held Anguiano up at gunpoint during the botched 2024 meetup. The dossier of court and law enforcement records reviewed for this story does not indicate whether that individual has since been identified, charged, or prosecuted, leaving a significant piece of the case still an open question for investigators.
