An Arizona dental assistant has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for sexually abusing three young children while they were under anesthesia during dental procedures. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office announced the sentencing on Friday.
Deion Garcia, 29, will serve his 40-year sentence followed by lifetime supervised probation as part of a plea agreement. Authorities stated that Garcia, who worked as an X-ray technician at Kidiatric Dental, exploited his position to abuse victims ranging in age from four to six during routine dental appointments.
Investigators began their case in May 2024 after parents of a six-year-old girl reported to Chandler police that Garcia had touched and photographed their daughter during a dental visit. According to investigators, Garcia led the child to a separate room, telling her that staff sometimes took six-year-olds to such a room to examine their teeth, while instructing her mother to wait outside with her younger sibling. Detectives later determined that Garcia had inappropriately touched and photographed the girl during the examination.
Further investigation connected Garcia to a September 2022 incident involving another six-year-old girl who was also abused during an X-ray procedure. A forensic search of Garcia's phone also uncovered explicit images of a third victim, a four-year-old girl, who was administered anesthesia at the time of the abuse.
Originally facing 14 felony counts, Garcia pleaded guilty to one count of attempted molestation of a child, one count of sexual conduct with a minor, and two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell commented after the sentencing, stating, "This defendant was trusted with the care of vulnerable children during routine dental procedures, and he exploited that trust for his own sexual gratification."