EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – What started as an investigation into missing items at an Air Force base in Arizona resulted into a multicount indictment against a U.S. servicemember accused of sex crimes involving an underage female.
A federal grand jury in Tucson last week charged Staff Sgt. Alexander Renato Young with two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of theft of government property.
The alleged theft involved bayonets, scopes and small arms tool kits belonging to the Office of Special Investigations at Davis Mountain Air Force Base that were being sold online.
OSI agents requested a subpoena compelling the website to reveal the identity of the person selling the government property. Court records show the account linked to the items was registered to Young and had his credit card number and email address.
Investigators interviewed Young last November. He initially denied selling government property online but later admitted to posting the items, not for profit but “because he was stupid,” court records show.
Investigators eventually gleaned Young allegedly made $450 from the sold items.
It was after investigators obtained a warrant to search the serviceman’s cell phone that they found videos of a female going into and coming out of a shower. Several photographs also were found, some in which Young’s face was visible, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
Investigators allegedly learned the female was 14 years old when the photos and videos were taken.
Young’s arraignment is set for May 23 in federal court in Tucson before U.S. Magistrate Lynnette C. Kimmins. The plea deadline is June 13.
Davis Mountain Air Force Base is in Tucson, Ariz.
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