September 6, 2020
by: Staff Report
PASCO COUNTY, Fla. – Edgar Johan Diaz-Colon, 34, Zephyrhills, was sentenced to 150 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting children. Diaz-Colon had pleaded guilty on April 22, 2020.
According to court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, in 2018 and 2019, Diaz-Colon sexually abused three young children. Two of the victims (who were then six and seven years old) lived near Diaz-Colon, and he lured them to the studio where he was staying. There, on multiple occasions, he repeatedly raped the children and forced them to perform sex acts on him. Diaz-Colon video-recorded some of those incidents. He also hit at least one of the children with a belt and taped her mouth shut when she cried for help. Diaz-Colon threatened to kill the child if she told her parents about his abuse.
The third victim was three years old when Diaz-Colon had abused her. In at least one instance, he video-recorded himself molesting the child.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Sanford Police Department, and the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily C. L. Chang.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc