2 servicemen caught trying to have sex with 14-year-old girl sentenced

SAN ANTONIO – Two service members, both caught trying to have sex with a 14-year-old girl in separate incidents, were sentenced to federal prison this month.

Former U.S. Army member Mark Antonio Pazmino, 30, was sentenced to 121 months in federal prison followed by 20 years of supervised release. Pazmino has been in custody since July 5, 2016 when he tried meeting an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

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Pazamino, who was assigned to JBSA-National Security Agency, told the undercover agent posing as a minor that he wanted to have sex with her.

In a separate incident, enlisted Navy member Mark Richard Hardin, 28, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for also trying to sleep with a 14-year-old girl.

In October, Hardin, a former U.S. Navy medical technician at San Antonio Military Medical Center, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.

Hardin began texting what he thought was a 14-year-old girl back in February of 2016. The undercover agent, posing as a 14-year-old, told Hardin she lived at Lackland. Hardin, authorities said, texted the girl "for the purposes of meeting and ultimately engaging in sexual intercourse
with her."

He has been in custody since his Feb. 25, 2016 arrest.

These cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.