A former police officer was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for sexually assaulting two teen boys after grooming them with sexts for nearly a year.
Delia Ruiz, a 31-year-old ex-cop from a small Texas town, was sentenced Wednesday by US District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk for the charges, in which she seduced and had recurrent sex with the children, who were 15 and 16 at the time of their meeting in 2020.
Ruiz, a former Friona police officer, is accused of sending one of the minors flirty texts and luring him to a church parking lot for sex in her car on at least three times, according to officials.
In January, she confessed, pleading guilty to one charge of enticing of a minor.
Chad E. Meacham, the US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, revealed the announcement on Thursday.
Ruiz admitted in court papers to having sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old victim named John Doe 2 in the autumn of 2020 and continuing the contact until the kid turned 17 in spring of 2021.
She also admitted that she started having sexual relations with her 15-year-old victim, John Doe 1, after meeting him at John Doe 2’s house in the spring of 2021.
On at least three occasions, Chad Meacham claims she sent the child flirty texts and arranged to meet him in a church parking lot for sex in her car.
She emailed him sexually explicit images and videos of herself, threatening him with ‘serious trouble’ if he told anyone about what they did.
In October 2021, she was arrested and later fired from the Fiona Police Department.
The investigation was performed with the full cooperation of the Fiona Police Department by the Texas Rangers, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office – Lubbock Resident Agency, and the Amarillo Police Department.
Assistant US Attorney Callie Woolam and Assistant US Attorney Meredith Pinkham prosecuted the case.