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A federal judge sentenced a former choir teacher from Brownsville's Besteiro Middle School to more than 19 years in prison in a sexual exploitation of a child case.
Ramiro C. Lozano appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Hilda Tagle in Brownsville at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The 46-year-old Brownsville teacher pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of children back in October 2009.
During the Tuesday morning hearing, Judge Tagle sentenced Lozano to 19 years and seven months in federal prison to be followed by 10 years probation.
Court records show the same sentence applied for each of the two count but Tagle ordered that they be served concurrently.
In his plea agreement, Lozano admitted to persuading, inducing, enticing and coercing the boys to pose for the photographs.
Authorities first learned about the photographs when Weslaco police arrested Lozano for public intoxication on Dec. 21, 2008.
Federal prosecutors said officers found Lozano asleep in his car parked along the side of a road.
Officers doing inventory of his car found several pornographic DVDs, a laptop computer and a digital camera containing numerous images of child pornography.
Lozano admitted in court on Tuesday that the items were all his and to taking pictures of the three 13-year-old boys exposing their genitals.
Federal prosecutors said all the pictures were taken at Besteiro Middle School in
