- Carlos Arturo Aparicio Hernandez, 40, from Taylorsville, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.
- Aparicio pleaded guilty to enticing a minor through social media.
- Aparicio faces additional state charges and potential life sentences for related sexual crimes.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Taylorsville resident accused of sexual abuse and extorting a child through social media has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.
Carlos Arturo Aparicio Hernandez, aka Raiza Daniela Yasira Aparicio Hernandez, 40, was charged in federal court in June 2022 with two counts of production of child sexual abuse material, and one count each for enticement of illegal sexual activity, possession of child sexual abuse material and extortion.
Aparicio convinced a 14-year-old victim to send sexually explicit photos and extorted additional images and videos from the victim, according to federal charges. Aparicio also met up with the victim and engaged in illegal sexual activity, then produced images of those sexual encounters, the charges state.
Agents also located child sexual abuse material of other children on Aparicio's electronic devices, according to court documents.
In January, Aparicio pleaded guilty to the enticement charge and was sentenced Sept. 26 to 30 years in prison with a lifetime of probation.
"I knowingly and intentionally attempted to persuade, induce, entice or coerce, and later extorted the minor to send me sexually explicit photos and videos. I made arrangements on two occasions to meet the minor and did engage in illegal sexual activity. ... I produced images of the illegal sexual encounters with the minor that I stored on my electronic devices," a plea statement says.
Aparicio was also charged in May 2022 in two separate cases in 3rd District Court for various sexual crimes. State charges identify Aparicio as a transgender woman.
In January 2021, a 15-year-old boy accepted a friend request on Facebook from someone he thought was a teenage girl. After several months of communicating, Aparicio requested nude pictures from the boy, and after that, asked to meet the boy, the charges state.
The boy invited Aparicio to his home, where he learned the true identity of Aparicio, who then "forced him to do sexual acts," threatened to release the photos of the boy if he didn't, and recorded the sex acts on a phone and saved the videos, according to the charges. Aparicio further threatened the boy if he did not comply with demands for additional sexual encounters.
In that case, Aparicio was charged in the 3rd District Court with aggravated sexual extortion and six counts of forcible sodomy, first-degree felonies; three counts of forcible sexual abuse, enticing a minor and five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, second-degree felonies.
In March 2024, Aparicio pleaded guilty to one count of forcible sodomy, and the other charges were dropped.
In the second state case, Aparicio was charged with six counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and two counts of sodomy on a child, first-degree felonies.
Detectives located child sexual abuse material on Aparicio's phone that included images of him sexually abusing children, some of which were identified as related to him, charges state. Videos and evidence show Aparicio abused a 7-year-old, a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old between 2019 and 2022 while living with family in Salt Lake County, according to prosecutors.
In that case, Aparicio also pleaded guilty in March 2024 to two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and one count of sodomy on a child.
Aparicio is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 18 for both state cases and faces up to life in prison for each of the charges. According to court documents, the federal sentence will be served concurrently with the state terms.
According to charging documents, Aparicio is originally from El Salvador and will be remanded to the custody of the FBI and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for deportation proceedings upon release from prison.
