Cops fear rape suspect pimping teen

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Police said a man arrested for pimping out a prostitute may have also forced a teen girl into the sex trade.

Gerardo Sustaita, 43, is charged with two counts of prostitution.

Santa Fe Police Department Sgt. Andrea Dobyns said on Tuesday detectives were staking out his room at a Motel 6 on Cerrillos Road after they were tipped off to possible drug trafficking.

Detectives said two men and a woman were seen leaving the room and driving away. Police pulled them over for a traffic stop.

“They found those two individuals with a prostitute,” Dobyns said.

Police said the woman told them Sustaita was her pimp and forced her to sell her body and give him the cash. The woman was afraid to talk about him but then revealed something that would spark another investigation.

“Told us there was another female in the room that was possibly a juvenile,” Dobyns said. “Now we're going to look into this man and investigate human trafficking.”

Police don't know how old the girl is or where she is now. They are hoping she calls police.

Dobyns said it's not the first time Sustaita has been accused of a sex crime involving a teen. The 43-year-old man is already on an ankle monitor while he awaits trial for rape.

“He admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old girl,” Dobyns said.

Detectives said that girl was not the girl in the motel room.

“We're worried it's another girl, and we're worried there could be a pattern,” Dobyns said.

Police don't think this is the first time Sustaita has forced women into the sex trade, and they worry it won't be the last.   

“If you're on electronic monitoring for a sex crime, and now you're involved in another,” Dobyns said. “We don't feel like he's going to stop.”

Police said if Sustaita is convicted on the rape-of-a-minor charge he could face six-plus years in prison. Crimes-against-children detectives are now investigating Sustaita on human-trafficking charges.

He remains jailed on a $100,000 bond.