FL Man Get 10 Years For BoyAhoy Chat with Minor
A Delray Beach man who used a web app called BoyAhoy to send steamy messages and pictures to a police officer posing as a 15-year-old boy has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
John Michael Romero Mendoza, 26, was sentenced this week by Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks in West Palm Beach federal court.
Mendoza pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to enticement. The plea came two months after his arrest at aBoca Raton shopping center in June, according to court filings.
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Mendoza's downfall began on June 6, when he began chatting with an undercover officer on a gay social networking application called BoyAhoy.
"Hi sexy how u doing," Mendoza wrote to the officer, with the conversation heating up quickly, court documents said.
The officer wrote back to Mendoza, saying he was 15. "I'm 18 – 3 years. Get it hehe," the cop wrote before sending a picture of his profile page.
"Don't be nervous sweetie," Mendoza wrote, asking about the undercover officer's genitalia. After sending a photograph of his penis, Mendoza asked, "Do you like it" and "can I have ur phone #."
The two agreed to talk by phone, with Mendoza calling the undercover cop. The two had a "sexually explicit conversation," and Mendoza said he didn't "mind that you're 15," according to court documents.
Talking later on BoyAhoy, Mendoza asked the undercover officer — who he thought to be a teenager — to ride his bike to meet him, court records say. Mendoza offered a massage and oral sex in return.
They agreed to meet at a shopping center on Palmetto Park Road just east of Interstate 95.
But when Mendoza arrived at the shopping center on June 7, there was no 15-year-old boy, just a few Boca Raton police officers waiting to arrest him.
Police also said Mendoza's vehicle contained condoms, lubricants and pornographic magazines in plain view, according to the court documents.
After being read his rights, Mendoza admitted to sending a photograph of his penis to a person he thought was a 15-year-old boy.
In addition to the 10-year sentence, Middlebrooks also recommended that Mendoza undergo a 500-hour drug treatment program while incarcerated and five years of supervised release after he serves his time.
Pre-sentencing letters addressed to the judge from Mendoza's family paint a picture of a life marred by back luck and bad judgment. A former altar boy, Mendoza was a victim of bullying who fell in with the wrong crowd of people, suffered a near-fatal car crash and a long recovery, and was the primary companion and caregiver of his sick mother.
The family members were appealing for leniency for Mendoza at his sentencing Tuesday. He was facing the prospect of life in prison.
"My son, John Michael, lives with me and takes care of me," Consolacion Mendoza wrote in a letter to the judge dated Oct. 17. "When I am sick and cannot get up, he cooks, cleans and feed[s] me. He is a thoughtful, loving, kind and caring person.”
Moral of the post: When you sexual Boyahoy, make sure the kid is an adult
Moral of the post: When you sexual Boyahoy, make sure the kid is an adult
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