A former San Antonio daycare worker, who took perverted pictures with the children he was supposed to be teaching, has been sentenced to 45 years in federal prison, Newsradio 1200 WOAI reports.
Nicholas Gonzales Malven, 31, was employed by the La Petite Academy on Springtime until he was caught in the federal sting operation in July of 2016.
"I know what I did was wrong," he told the judge. "I have not had a day were I don’t think about what I did and if I could take it back, I would."
Malven was honorably discharged by the Navy after a violation of the military's "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy. He went on to work at the YMCA and several daycares in Washington state, where he filed several complaints after he was not allowed to work with younger kids.
He eventually came to San Antonio, where he met up with 34 year old Michael Kiper, who shared his fantasy of raping a child. When federal agents arrested Kiper, they searched his phone, and found the pair were communicating over the dating app Grindr, court papers show. Malven, who is HIV positive, sent images of himself with children at the daycare.
Kiper allowed federal agents to use his phone to keep talking to other people, including Malven, over social media. Former FBI special agent Jeff Allovio, who went undercover in the case, called it gut wrenching.
"When you're discussing how to abduct a one and a half year old child... and what he wanted to do with him... it's very very difficult."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Thompson says this was one of the hardest cases she has ever had to prosecute.
"No parent really wants to leave their child at any time, but in order to make a living and have a career, you do that," she explains. "This is the worst nightmare."
Federal Judge David Ezra agreed, stacking two Production of Child Pornography sentences on top of each other, instead of allowing them to run at the same time.
"The problem is that these images get out there, and they never disappear. They just keep recirculating. I've had cases from 15 years ago and I see the same images. They're still floating around. And every time someone looks at them these people are being re-victimized," the Judge said.
One civil case remains pending.