SAN DIEGO (CNS) — A former Navy detective and El Cajon police officer recently sentenced for using excessive force on a detained sailor at Naval Base San Diego was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for conspiring to distribute child sex abuse material.
Jonathan Christopher Laroche pleaded guilty to communicating with others over the internet about creating and sharing videos and images depicting the sexual abuse of minors.
In communications with a darknet user who claimed to run a business that paid people to share and/or create such material, Laroche described sexually abusing a minor victim and his intent to create videos with the juvenile, court documents state.
Laroche also described uploading files that allegedly depicted the sexual abuse of a child, but law enforcement officials said in court documents that they were "not in possession of the specific files he uploaded on the darknet."
Other evidence cited in court papers includes records of sex toy and child clothing purchases made by Laroche, which were delivered to his Spring Valley home.
The online communications occurred while Laroche was employed with the Navy, a job prosecutors say he only secured by lying on his job application regarding the reasons why he left the El Cajon Police Department.
Prosecutors say that during his time with the El Cajon PD, he used excessive force on multiple people, leading the department to inform him that he was going to be terminated.
Rather than appeal the termination, he resigned in 2018, then later joined the Navy, where he was charged by federal prosecutors for choking a handcuffed sailor to the point of unconsciousness in November 2023.
As part of his guilty plea in the excessive force case, Laroche agreed to never seek future employment with law enforcement agencies.
He was set to report to prison last year for a 15-month sentence for the Navy incident when prosecutors filed the sex crime case against him.
The 20-year term was the maximum possible prison sentence that could be imposed, but U.S. District Judge James Simmons said he would have sentenced Laroche to more time were it possible.
"Frankly, 20 years is not enough time," said the judge, who described Laroche's actions as "reprehensible."
Laroche, who wept throughout Tuesday's sentencing hearing, apologized
to those in attendance and said, "I am beyond horrified with myself."
Both Laroche and his defense attorney, R. Deke Falls, said alcoholism and PTSD sustained during his time in Iraq as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps took its toll on his mental state and his judgment.
Falls, who asked for a 15-year sentence, wrote in his sentencing papers that his client's actions were "deplorable" and that Laroche wasseeking to "earn the forgiveness of those he hurt."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Griffith said that while Laroche could be credited with pleading guilty early, she said his first instincts upon his impending arrest in the case were to evade responsibility, including by calling his then-girlfriend and asking her to destroy evidence.
The prosecutor wrote in her sentencing papers that within the email exchanges discovered by law enforcement, Laroche never showed anything "but a willingness and eagerness to engage in this depraved conduct."
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