ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A four-day undercover operation led to 15 arrests in a child solicitation case, and the New Mexico Department of Justice will prosecute nine of the suspects.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced the arrests for Operation Game Over, a multi-agency effort targeting people suspected of trying to meet a child for sexual activity.
All 15 people face charges of child solicitation by electronic communication device. The New Mexico Department of Justice will handle nine of the 15 cases, and partner agencies will take the others.
The operation involved undercover agents with the New Mexico Department of Justice (NMDOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO), the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) and the Santa Fe Police Department (SFPD).
“There is no higher priority for my office than protecting children from those who would exploit them, and we will use every tool, every partnership, and every resource available to bring these predators to justice,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez.
The NMDOJ said the suspects contacted decoy accounts the NMDOJ and partner agencies created. The accounts posed as underage users on sites including Sniffies, SkiptheGames, Grindr, MeetMe and MocoSpace.
“This operation succeeded because law enforcement moved as a single unit and that is exactly the kind of coordinated response New Mexico families deserve. Predators who target our children should know they are not anonymous, they are not safe, and they will be held accountable,” said Torrez.
Agencies said they worked together on undercover chats, surveillance and the arrests that followed.
Whom the NMDOJ is prosecuting
The NMDOJ said it will prosecute the following individuals:
- Ryan Lard
- Roman Benjamin
- Anthony Larsen
- Kyle Stovall
- Jeremy Garcia
- Jose Arizmendy-Vega
- Christopher Purtee
- Christopher Frost
- Jesus Jacobo
The charges are mostly for child solicitation by electronic communication device, ranging from third degree to second degree felonies.
