Doctor avoids jail for child pornography, but likely faces deportation

SAN FRANCISCO — A doctor who was arrested during a layover from Mexico to Thailand avoided a jail sentence after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography found on his phone while he was at San Francisco International Airport, court records show.

Edgar Alesis Garcia Riego, 38, of Veracruz, Mexico, was sentenced to five years of supervised release. But court filings say he will almost certainly be deported now that his criminal case is over. He was arrested back in July and spent several months in jail while his case was pending, records show.

Garcia Riego would have been eligible for a multi-year prison term but federal prosecutors recommended he avoid incarceration. Senior U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney handed down the sentence on Dec. 10, records show.

“The totality of the circumstances surrounding the offense—and particularly defendant’s acknowledgement of his wrongdoing, expressions of remorse, and commitment to refrain from engaging in such conduct in the future—validate that the time-served sentence still is appropriate,” a prosecution sentencing memo says.

Garcia Riego admitted to paying $5 to join a child pornography group on a texting application but also “stated he saw three videos he did not like in the Telegram group and then stopped watching,” prosecutors said in court filings.

Garcia Riego’s attorney said in court filings the case has “upended” his life, and that he was placed on administrative leave at the hospital where he works. He’d never been to jail before this, court filings say.

“He will never again be granted a visa to travel to or through the United States, and he will be deported following these proceedings,” a defense sentencing memo says.