SAN ANTONIO – A City of San Antonio detention officer was arrested Wednesday morning, after a criminal investigation determined he posted videos of him sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl on the social media platform X.
Richard Mendoza, 22, was taken into custody around 4 a.m. while at work at the city’s detention facility at 401 S. Frio St., a source confirmed to TheTXLoop.
Mendoza, who has worked as a detention officer since 2024, faces two first-degree felony charges of continuous sex abuse of a child under 14 and possession of more than 50 items of child pornography, booking records show.
Mendoza has since been placed on administrative leave.
San Antonio police detectives began investigating Mendoza in September after an anonymous tip was submitted to Crime Stoppers.
The tipster told police Mendoza posted videos of him engaged in sex acts with a 13-year-old girl on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
A review of Mendoza’s account showed a man with visible and distinct tattoos on his arms as well as the posting of a medical report that contained Mendoza’s first name and his age.
The victim, when first questioned by detectives, denied being sexually assaulted, the warrant states.
In a subsequent forensic interview conducted with the victim days later, she again denied being sexually assaulted.
Search warrants for the X account belonging to Mendoza, however, uncovered footage of Mendoza sexually assaulting the girl in addition to sexually explicit messages shared between the two of them, records show.
During a third interview with detectives on Tuesday, the victim confirmed being sexually assaulted by Mendoza four to five times between August and November 2025, the warrant states.
City detention officers fall under SAPD’s purview.
SAPD officials on Wednesday initially did not respond to an email seeking comment on Mendoza’s arrest.
Four minutes after TheTXLoop first published this story, an SAPD spokesperson sent the following statement:
Today, Detention Officer Richard Mendoza, with the San Antonio Adult Arrestee Processing Center, was arrested on an active warrant for Sex Abuse Child Victim Under 14/Disabled Person by the San Antonio Police Department. Mendoza has been placed on administrative leave.
Detention Officer Mendoza has been employed by the City of San Antonio since 2024. The San Antonio Police Department is conducting a criminal investigation into this incident and this is all the information we are releasing at this time.
San Antonio Police Department
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