Child-exploitation case grows to 15 posible victims

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Police say the number of kids exploited by a Santa Fe man has jumped from one to at least 15 although detectives have sifted through only a portion of the evidence taken from Jacob Pinto's home.

One binder holds pictures of more than a dozen different boys police suspect were victimized by Pinto, 43.

Detectives said it’s a child exploitation case that started with one video and has exploded into a horrifying case spanning decades.

“It’s unfortunate that our victim pool has risen to about 15 kids now,” said Lt. Louis Carlos of the Santa Fe Police Department.

Police arrested Pinto in March after a video of a boy surfaced. Detectives said the video was recorded inside Pinto's apartment and showed a 15-year-old boy lying on the floor with this shirt off. They said money was on one side of the boy and an egg timer on the other.

Police said Pinto was behind the camera masturbating.

When police arrested him they also raided his apartment where they took around 10 tubs of items now marked as evidence.

“That's a lot,” Carlos said. “That includes approximately 110 VHS tapes not to mention photographs and magazines and articles.”

They said magazine cut-outs of young, shirtless boys were among the items police found. Detectives said they are similar to the pictures of the 15 boys Pinto is suspected of taking.

Some of the photographs were taken at the bicentennial public swimming pool, a local school, a gymnasium and a nearby park.

Police initially thought their first victim had been the only one inside Pinto's home, but now they think that number has grown.

“We do have information to believe that there were a handful of kids that were inside his residence,” Carlos said.

Police said they have found evidence on the VHS tapes, but so far they are only about a quarter of the way through the seized items.

Detectives have visited Santa Fe schools and local swimming pools trying to identify more alleged victims. So far, police have identified and interviewed three.