Maricopa County grand jury indicts dental assistant on 12 counts of child sex abuse
A Maricopa County grand jury indicted a Chandler dental assistant, Deion Alexander Garcia, 27, on charges of sexually abusing juvenile patients as they underwent treatment on Thursday.
Earlier this month, Chandler police began investigating reports from the parents of a 6-year-old girl who claimed Garcia molested her.
MCAO said investigating police connected the incident to a separate case of sex abuse involving a 6-year-old in September 2022.
Police found images of a 4-year-old victim abused by Garcia while the patient was under anesthesia, MCAO said.
"Child abuse by a trusted adult is every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Rachel Mitchell, Maricopa County Attorney. “The three victims in this case have been scarred for life, and we must now seek justice for them to the fullest extent of the law.”
Police previously said videos on the East Valley dental assistant's cellphone led to multiple felony charges.
On the night of May 8, the parents of a 6-year-old girl came forward to Chandler police about their daughter telling them Garcia touched her inappropriately and took photographs of her unclothed while she was getting X-ray scans at the Chandler dentistry, according to court documents.
On May 9, the girl participated in a forensic interview where she said Garcia was scanning and photographing her teeth before he "started bugging" her and touching her inappropriately, according to court documents. Garcia went on to place his hand under her clothes, snapping photos with his cell phone, according to charging documents.
The girl's parents said Garcia told the mother she needed to wait and give the orthodontist information on the other child she brought in, court documents detailed. Garcia returned with the girl after 15 minutes with the girl acting "differently," documents stated.
Garcia denied to police that he touched the girl, but phone data extraction on Garcia's iPhone found 10 photos of the alleged victim and a second girl, according to charging documents. The images, determined to have been taken by the device and at the location, included the first alleged victim's genitals, documents detailed. One set of images was captured May 8, the day the first girl said she was molested, according to court documents.
The images of the second alleged victim were taken May 9, and records at the dentistry showed the second alleged victim, a 4-year-old, had been there that same day, according to charging documents.
Garcia refused to provide his passcode for his iPhone and forensic data extraction only captured part of the device, charging documents stated. Part of the extraction included sexualized, animated images of children, documents added.
Garcia faced one count of molestation of a child and 11 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
His next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 19.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Chandler dental assistant indicated on 12 charges of sex abuse
