Physical Therapist Sentenced to 12 Years for Child Pornography

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A physical therapist who owns a clinic in California was sentenced in federal court today for distributing child pornography.

Esteban E. Manale, 47, of Hacienda Heights, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips to 12 years in federal prison without parole.

Manale, the owner of a physical therapy clinic in Bellflower, Calif., pleaded guilty on May 3, 2024, to three counts of distributing child pornography. Manale admitted that on three separate occasions in August 2022 he sent images of child pornography to an undercover FBI task force officer whom he believed to be a Missouri woman he met online through a dating application.

Manale originally contacted a woman in Missouri on a dating application in August 2022. He told her that he worked at a physical therapy clinic primarily dealing with athletes, including minor females who were cheerleaders and volleyball players. He stated that he would get touchy with the athletes and liked to flirt with all of the girls who came to the clinic, and disclosed that he has had sex with patients at the clinic. He indicated that he liked children and had slept with a 13-year-old girl he met at the beach. He talked about his fascination with Ted Bundy, said he wanted to "use a rope to choke a young one," use "knife play," and "rape a young virgin girl while her mom watches me" while the mother is tied up.

The Missouri woman contacted law enforcement. An undercover officer assumed her identity and continued to communicate with Manale. In those conversations, Manale told the undercover officer that he had sexual contact with "preteens about 10 times," defining them as being between 10 and 13 years old, and claimed to also have sexual contact "with older teens and about 20 plus." In one communication, Manale claimed that he visited malls to "hunt" for young, cute girls over the weekend.

Manale discussed his desire to come to Kansas City to meet the undercover officer's purported 8-year-old niece and have her record the encounter. He sent images of child pornography to the undercover officer via social media from Aug. 22, 2022, through Nov. 9, 2022.

On Dec. 14, 2022, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Manale's residence and seized three cell phones. Two of the phones were hidden on top of the bathroom vanity, in a small space that was difficult to access. Investigators found 507 images and 154 videos of child pornography on those two cell phones.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen A. Brackett. It was investigated by the FBI, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, and the Los Angeles, Calif., Sheriff's Department.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."