Anthony man sentenced to life for sexual offenses

An Anthony man who was convicted by a federal jury in July on two counts of child sexual exploitation offenses has been sentenced to life in prison. The federal sentence does not allow a possibility of parole.

Othon Jorge Zamarripa, 35, was arrested in 2023 as agents with Homeland Security Investigations followed up on reports that he had sexually abused two relatives, who were 10 and 15 years old, respectively, at the time of his arrest. The facts presented at trial addressed instances of alleged abuse dating back to 2018, although court documents state it appeared to have begun earlier, when the girl was as young as 3 years old.

In an announcement of the sentence, Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison’s Office stated that Zamarripa “abused his position of trust as a caregiver by coercing minors to engage in illegal sexual activity through manipulation, threats, physical abuse, and the use of online pornography to exert control and maintain secrecy.”

The Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office referred the case to HSI and the Las Cruces Police Department contributed to the investigation and presented testimony at Zamarripa’s trial. Ellison’s office said the prosecution was supported by Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice initiative addressing child sexual exploitation and abuse begun in 2006 under then-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The jury convicted Zamarripa on three counts under a criminal indictment on July 28, according to the verdict sheet, but U.S. District Judge Margaret Strickland subsequently acquitted Zamarripa on a count accusing him of seeking child pornography. The judge ruled that prosecutors had not made a sufficient case that internet searches and pornographic images obtained from the X social media site — referred to in court documents by its former name, Twitter — proved Zamarripa had been seeking child pornography.

Algernon D'Ammassa is the Journal's Southern New Mexico Correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.