CHANDLER, Ariz., July 19 — The case that began with a parent’s phone call to the Chandler Police Department in May of 2024 ended last July with a 40-year prison sentence. For the families of the young victims, the resolution brought a measure of closure after a betrayal that unfolded inside a dentist’s office. The parent of a 6-year-old girl reported that a dental assistant at Kidiatric Dental & Orthodontics had inappropriately touched her child and taken inappropriate photographs during an X-ray examination.
That single report set off an investigation that uncovered a pattern of abuse reaching beyond one victim. Chandler detectives did not stop with the initial complaint.
They dug into records, spoke with other families, and soon identified multiple minor patients who had been victimized by the same man: Deion Garcia, a dental assistant at the practice. The investigation was handled jointly by the Chandler Police Department and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, and it moved methodically toward charges that would eventually include some of the most serious offenses under Arizona law.
Pattern of Abuse, Guilty Plea
Garcia ultimately pleaded guilty to four felony counts, each classified as a dangerous crime against children. The charges were one count of attempted molestation of a child, one count of sexual conduct with a minor, and two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. The guilty plea spared the victims and their families the ordeal of a trial.
The ages of the victims and the setting where the abuse occurred added a layer of cruelty that prosecutors emphasized. Children in a dental office expect to be cared for, not preyed upon.
The trust placed in medical professionals—especially those working with young patients—was violated repeatedly over a period that investigators traced through the pattern of reports.
Justice Served
On Friday, July 17, 2025, a judge sentenced Garcia to 40 years in prison. Beyond the prison term, the court imposed lifetime supervised probation. The dental practice itself, Kidiatric Dental & Orthodontics, is not named as a party in the criminal case, and no charges were filed against the practice as an entity.
Garcia is now in the Arizona Department of Corrections, serving consecutive terms that will keep him behind bars until at least 2065. The lifetime probation condition means that even if he were released on parole after 40 years, he would remain under court oversight.
The case has closed in the criminal justice system. The Chandler Police Department continues to encourage any parent who suspects abuse in a medical or dental setting to come forward. The department’s handling of this case—from the first call in May 2024 to the sentencing in July 2025—demonstrates that reports are taken seriously and that investigators will pursue every lead to protect the most vulnerable.
