A Honduran national and Florida sex offender convicted of lewd/lascivious battery on a child was found illegally in the United States.
United States Attorney Roger Handberg announced the return of an indictment charging 39-year-old Teofilo Samuel Molina-Espinoza, of Palm Coast, with illegal reentry by a deported alien and failure to register as a sex offender.
According to the indictment, in February 2012, Molina-Espinoza was convicted of lewd/lascivious battery on a child (12-16 years old). He was deported from the United States to Honduras on April 16, 2012, but was found to be back in the United States illegally on July 18, 2024.
Additionally, after returning to the United States, Molina-Espinoza failed to register as a sex offender as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
If convicted on all counts, Molina-Espinoza faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Marshals Service. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stephanie McNeff.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue child victims.
