Man gets 45 years in prison for grooming, taking teen from SLO County to Mexico
Editor’s Note: This story contains details about alleged grooming and sexual exploitation that may be troubling for some readers.
A California man was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting two teenage girls, including one living in San Luis Obispo County.
Victorville resident Daniel Navarro, now 42, used Instagram to convince two 14-year-old girls that he was a 15-year-old football player named Danny. His Instagram handles were @dn.2021.01 and @dn84831.
“Navarro later groomed and enticed the victims into producing sexually explicit images of themselves,” a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Central District of California Office said.
One of the teenagers was from Arizona, and she went missing on July 1, 2022, while visiting family in Nipomo, according to previous Tribune reporting.
Law enforcement later uncovered that Navarro traveled with her from Nipomo to Tijuana, Mexico, from June 30, 2022, to July 1, 2022, “with the purpose of engaging in criminal sexual activity,” the release said.
“Navarro had an online relationship with this victim for approximately five months,” the release said. “A review of one of Navarro’s Instagram accounts revealed conversations between Navarro and the victim on the victim’s Instagram account in which Navarro professed his love for the victim and discussed getting her pregnant.”
In mid-July 2022, Mexican law enforcement officers rescued the teenager from a Tijuana residence, the release said.
Navarro was taken into federal custody in July 2022.
“(Navarro) was a nearly-40-year-old man making empty promises to dozens of girls in pursuit of his own sexual gratification,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum. “(Navarro) lied to, groomed and manipulated children to get what he wanted most from them: sexually explicit images and sex acts with these children.”
After a four-day trial in 2025, a jury found Navarro guilty of six felonies, including two counts of sexual exploitation of a child to produce a sexually explicit visual depiction, one count of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, one count of transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of transportation of child pornography, the release said.
U.S. District Judge André Birotte Jr. sentenced Navarro to 45 years in federal prison and ordered him to pay $15,000 in restitution.
This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 9:53 AM.
