NASHVILLE – Juan Carlos Barturen, 47, of Loretto, Tennessee, was recently sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment on four counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor announced United States Attorney Braden H. Boucek for the Middle District of Tennessee. “One of our greatest responsibilities to the public is to protect children from sexual abuse,” said United States Attorney Braden H. Boucek. “Our office goes after these predators relentlessly and seeks the toughest sentences possible to keep them from ever harming another child.” According to court records, the investigation started when a minor victim went to a cell phone store and requested assistance with her cell phone plan. Workers at the store observed text messages on her phone which led them to believe that the minor was a victim of child sexual abuse; the workers then made a report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. State and federal investigators followed up on the tip and determined that Barturen had been sexually abusing the victim for a period of almost five years and that Barturen had first raped the victim when she was ten years old. The victim also disclosed that Barturen demanded that she produce sexually explicit photos and videos for him and that he directed her in what he wanted to see in the sexually explicit photos and videos. When interviewed by law enforcement, Barturen admitted to recording sexual activity with the minor victim, so that he could watch these recordings when he traveled to Florida for work. Barturen attempted to minimize his conduct with the victim first claiming that she had developed a “crush” on him and falsely claimed that he had only began a sexual relationship with her when she was eighteen, when he would have been in his forties. Metadata reviewed by investigators established that to be false and that Barturen began having sexual contact with the victim when she was a child. Even after his arrest and incarceration, Barturen continued to try and control the victim by asking his wife and mother to contact the victim and persuade her to change her story so he could not be prosecuted. He also asked his wife to hide three other computers at his mother’s residence, so they could not be seized and searched. Ultimately, on September 30, 2026, Judge Eli J. Richardson sentenced Barturen to 240 months incarceration, ten years of federal supervised release, and restitution to the victim in the amount of $10,000. This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Monica R. Morrison prosecuted the case.