34-year-old St. George, Utah man Sergio Diaz-Palomino has been arrested and charged with Sodomy on a Child and Sexual Exploitation of a Minor after he took a role of film to Walgreen’s to be developed. The photo technician noticed that there were some sexually explicit photographs of a baby on the film and called the police.
Officers reviewed the film and discovered that several pictures on the roll of film showed a baby boy being sexually abused by Diaz-Palomino. After questioning, he admitted that the child in the photos is his son.
Police believe that the mother of the child took the photographs and are looking for her to determine exactly what role she played in the abuse as well as to determine the welfare of the baby in her care.
Diaz-Palomino is lodged in the Purgatory Correctional Facility (how utterly fitting) on $70,000 bond.
Updated 4/11/10 – As a helpful commenter noted below both Sergio Diaz-Palomino and the mother of his child, Alma Vasquez, have been cleared of any wrongdoing as far as the photos. It was nothing more than your generic nekked baby photo. I know I’ve got some and I’m sure that most proud parents do as well.
One thing that sets these two parents apart from the rest is the fact that both Diaz-Palomino and Vasquez are Mexican nationals, living and working in the United States illegally. The couple is still in custody and the baby is in foster care but an attorney representing them is trying to reunite the mother with her son and said that she will then leave the country voluntarily. Illegal or not, it’s not right to keep them away from each other and while the child might be a U.S. citizen he belongs with his parents.
