By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — An Arizona man will spend the next decade behind bars after flying to Montana in a failed attempt to bring a teenage girl back home with him.
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Manuel Flores, 72, was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in February 2026 to attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Flores tried to coerce a 15-year-old Montana girl into a sexual relationship — first while she was staying at his Arizona home, and later after she returned to Montana.
A family friend turned predator
In June 2024, authorities say Flores arranged for the girl, the daughter of a years-long family friend, to travel from Montana to Arizona to spend the summer at his home.
While she was staying with him, Flores sent the girl text messages expressing his sexual interest in her. She rejected his advances and went back to Montana at the end of the summer.
Prosecutors say the messages didn’t stop.
Flores kept texting the girl, repeating and escalating the same sexual advances he’d made over the summer, according to the DOJ. At times, he urged her to return to Arizona so the two could be together romantically.
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Eventually, the girl told her mother what was happening, and her mother contacted law enforcement.
Investigators posed as the teen online
FBI agents took control of the girl’s account and, posing as her, continued communicating with Flores. In a string of messages, he asked for nude photos and said he would fly to Montana and refuse to leave until he had her.
Flores followed through, boarding a flight to Montana on Aug. 18, 2025. Law enforcement was waiting for him and arrested him as soon as he landed.
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