LUBBOCK, TX — A Lubbock man was sentenced to life in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 10-year-old child for more than two years.
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham, Alec Mendoza, 26, was indicted in May 2024 and pleaded guilty to charges of enticement of a minor in August 2024. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix sentenced him to life in prison on April 4.
Court documents state that Mendoza first met the victim, known as “Jane Doe,” and her mother at a party in 2020 when the victim was 10 years old and Mendoza was 22. After they met, Mendoza began messaging “Jane Doe” online, and by February 2021, when the victim was 11, Mendoza started sexually abusing her.
Shortly after, Mendoza moved into the victim’s home, and over the next two and a half years, he had sexual intercourse with the victim around 30 to 50 times. Mendoza also sent her messages discussing sex and would remind her to delete the messages.
In December 2023, Mendoza was caught sending messages to the victim in the middle of the night from his bedroom down the hall. When confronted by the victim’s mother, Mendoza admitted to the ongoing sexual relationship with her daughter.
During sentencing, prosecutors revealed that Mendoza had agreed to take a polygraph test after his conviction. He failed the test and later confessed to abusing a second child. A search of his phone also found 20 videos of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and Mendoza admitted to receiving and sharing CSAM online.
At sentencing, Judge Hendrix told Mendoza that he could not “capture with words the trauma you caused that will last for lifetimes.” After setting a life sentence for Mendoza, Judge Hendrix said: “I have to make a lot of difficult decisions. This is not one of them.”
The investigation was carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Lubbock Police Department.
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