Army civilian employee sexually abused 2 children for years in Japan, feds say
A former U.S. Army civilian employee has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two children over the course of nearly a decade while he was stationed in Japan, according to federal prosecutors.
Thelmo Meneses Santos Jr., 60, of Merced, California, now faces up to 15 years in federal prison, a lifetime of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said in a Sept. 24 news release.
Santos’ federal public defender did not immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment Sept. 26.
Santos worked as a civilian Defense Department employee for 20 years, from 2004 to 2024, according to his plea agreement.
Between 2011 and 2024, he lived and worked in three Japanese cities, Yokosuka, Iwakuni and Zama, and also lived in Okinawa, an island in southern Japan located in the East China Sea, his plea agreement says.
From 2015 to 2023, Santos began sexually abusing one of the children, who was 11 when the abuse began, according to prosecutors.
The other child was younger than 16, prosecutors wrote in the filing.
While under federal investigation, Santos told authorities that he took part in sex acts with both of the children, prosecutors said.
Special agents with the Army Criminal Investigation Division arrested Santos in Hawaii on June 12, 2024, according to prosecutors and court records.
“The defendant engaged in the repeated sexual abuse of two young children over several years while he was employed as a civilian with the U.S. Army in Japan,” acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti, of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement.
Santos is set to be sentenced on Feb. 10, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He will owe restitution to his victims and must register as a sex offender, prosecutors said.
Concerns or suspicions about child sexual exploitation can be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline online or by calling 1-800-843-5678.
This story was originally published September 26, 2025 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Army civilian employee sexually abused 2 children for years in Japan, feds say."
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