PHOENIX — A former Phoenix resident has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for abusing children he had been trusted to look after.
Michael Martinez, 28, was recently sentenced to decades in federal prison after pleading guilty to producing sexually explicit material of children.
Back in 2016, Martinez was living in a Phoenix home with a 7-year-old and had taken inappropriate pictures of the child, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of Arizona.
The defendant, who was 22 at this time, then moved to another residence he shared with a woman and her two young children. Martinez acted as a babysitter to the kids and began taking explicit photos and videos of them when the mother was working, records show.
Prosecutors said Martinez admitted to engaging in sexual acts with the three minors.
Martinez moved to Texas in 2017 and was not arrested for the abuse charges until 2022.
According to court records, investigators reported finding over 78,000 files of explicit material depicting children on the defendant's computers at the time of his arrest in March 2022.
“The pain and harm caused to these victims is irreparable,” said Gary Restaino, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. “The court’s sentence sends a strong message of deterrence to those who seek to hurt children.”
Martinez spent his childhood years moving around to homes throughout Arizona and California, resulting in him struggling to form relationships with his peers, according to the defendant's counsel.
Martinez's attorney said the defendant had always been a hard-working individual and good brother to his siblings. But there are several problems dating back to his childhood that Martinez had never addressed or sought help for.
"Michael feels sincere remorse for his conduct, and the instant offense is not representative of his true character," his attorney wrote in a court filing. "Nevertheless, Michael understands the serious nature of his conduct, knows that he has serious mental health problems for which he needs professional help, and wants to take responsibility for his actions."
UP TO SPEED
What is the Valley?:
“The Valley” is what locals call the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is considered the largest metropolitan area in the Southwest.
The Valley is made up of various major cities other than Phoenix, including:
- Mesa
- Chandler
- Scottsdale
- Tempe
- Glendale
- Surprise
- Peoria
- Gilbert
- El Mirage
- Avondale
- Litchfield Park
- Goodyear
- Buckeye
Whether a city is in the “East Valley” or “West Valley” depends on where it is in relation to Phoenix.
The cities of the Valley have a combined population of 4,845,832 people, according to the 2020 United States Census. This makes it the 11th largest metropolitan area in the country right behind the Boston and Atlanta areas.