| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 12, 2008 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
SAN JOSE – United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced that John Carvahlo Diniz (pronounced din-EESH) was convicted by a federal jury on Friday afternoon of transporting a minor from Portugal to the United States for sexual purposes and also of enticing the same minor to travel internationally for sex.
The jury returned its verdict on Friday afternoon, May 9, 2008, before United States District Judge James Ware. Following a two week trial, the jury found Mr. Diniz guilty after deliberating over two days.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Mr. Diniz, 58, of Santa Clara, California, who owns two houses in the city of Angra do Heroismo on the island of Terceira, in the Azores, Portugal, routinely traveled to the Azores. In the summer of 2002, while in Terceira, Mr. Diniz met the victim, who was 16 years old at the time. Mr. Diniz promised to take the victim to California as long as the victim agreed to have sex with Mr. Diniz. Thereafter, Mr. Diniz repeatedly molested the victim prior to bringing him to the United States; which he did on September 26, 2002.
Once in the United States, the victim refused to have sex with Mr. Diniz and informed a relative about the molestations that had occurred in Portugal. The relative reported these allegations to a counselor, who reported the molestations to the local authorities.
Mr. Diniz is scheduled to appear for his sentencing hearing on July 7, 2008. Additionally, Mr. Diniz is scheduled to appear tomorrow, May 13, 2008, at 2 p.m. before Federal Magistrate Judge Patricia Trumbull for a hearing requested by Pre-Trial Services on an allegation that he violated a court-imposed curfew.
The maximum statutory penalty for transporting a minor with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity is 30 years imprisonment, 5 years supervised release, and a maximum fine of $250,000. The maximum statutory penalty for enticing an individual to travel internationally to engage in unlawful sexual activity is 20 years imprisonment, 3 years supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Gary Fry and Joseph Fazioli are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who prosecuted the case with the assistance of Legal Assistant Jeanne Carstensen. The conviction is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Santa Clara Police Department, and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Further Information:
Case #: 06-00800 JW
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Joshua Eaton at (415) 436-6958 or by email at Josh.Eaton@usdoj.gov.