Long after outcry, alleged child predators indicted

More than four years have passed since the alleged 8-year-old victim of Juan Pagoada, 21, of Port Arthur, made an outcry of sexual assault. Just last week, a Jefferson County Grand Jury indicted Pagoada on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child following a Port Arthur Police Department (PAPD) investigation that began on Oct. 29, 2018.

According to the probable cause affidavit for his arrest, PAPD was dispatched to an elementary school where a child was found by her teacher in possession of explicit hand drawn sexual pictures, after which the child stated she was being sexually abused.

Following an interview at the Garth House, officers learned that the child stated the abuse started when she was 5, with Pagoada being 16 years of age at the time. Pagoada was arrested June 15 and remains in custody.

In additional unrelated child sex crimes long ago alleged, Winnie resident Christopher Wayne Manuel, 42, was indicted on 10 counts of possession of child pornography on June 28.

According to the probable cause affidavit for his arrest, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) Cyber Tipline received reports from Google, LLC on March 29, 2022, denoting a suspect uploading a combined total of 575 files of apparent child pornography to a Google, LLC account.

Sgt. Kirt Thomas with the Office of the Texas Attorney General Law Enforcement Division investigated the tip, which led him to identify the IP address and “fbandito80” email as belonging to Manuel. A subsequent search warrant was exacted at Manuel’s home on Wise Road in Winnie, where investigators uncovered an android tablet on top of a nightstand in Manuel’s bedroom containing multiple video files of child pornography.

According to the Jefferson County jail records, Manuel was released on a total $200,000 bond on Oct. 12, 2022. An indictment by the grand jury does not indicate guilt, but rather that sufficient evidence existed to merit a criminal charge, the District Attorney’s Office notes.