Minneapolis, St. Paul men get long federal prison terms in separate child pornography cases

A 28-year-old Minneapolis man was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz to 20 years in prison for soliciting children to provide pornographic images of themselves.

Josiah Paul Mosqueda, who pleaded guilty on Dec. 6 to one count of production of child pornography, used his connections as a volunteer and former employee of a Minneapolis charter school and at a different Minneapolis middle school to find child victims, according to court documents.

Mosqueda used Skype, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, Kik, WhatsApp and Snapchat to solicit at least 10 underage males to provide naked images of themselves or videos of sexually explicit acts. He offered them help, such as repairing a phone, or counseled them in exchange for sexual contact, according to court documents.

"The record evidence shows that Mosqueda is a serial sexual predator and has continually preyed upon and exploited children for more than half a decade before his arrest," wrote special assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Middlecamp in a memorandum filed in the case.

She said that Mosqueda repeatedly bartered explicit contact or imagery for gifts or other assistance.

"One victim has reported that Mosqueda committed hands-on sexual offenses against him starting when he was only 14 years old," Middlecamp wrote.

In one of the cases he pressed a boy to provide pornographic images, even as the child expressed suicidal ideation.

"The defendant was a school employee with direct access to students," U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald said in a statement. "Instead of being that trusted adult, he exploited that trust, groomed young and vulnerable victims, and preyed upon them for his own sexual gratification."

Schiltz ordered Mosqueda to serve 10 years of supervised release after serving his 20-year sentence.