Garcia to court in prostitution case

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Former University of New Mexico President Chris Garcia is scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday after being charged with promoting prostitution through an Internet-based community of hookers and johns.

Albuquerque police arrested Garcia, 71, on Thursday and accused him of being a moderator on the SouthwestCompanions website. He posted a $35,000 bond later in the day and has yet to enter a plea or comment on the charges.

Garcia is due in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court at 1:30 p.m. for his arraignment.

On Sunday Albuquerque police arrested David Flory whom they allege is the current owner of the 1,400-member website established in 2006. Flory, a physics professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, has a vacation home in Santa Fe and was arrested at a Nob Hill coffee shop in Albuquerque.

Additional arrests have been made in the case bringing the total to six.

Albuquerque Police Department Chief Ray Schultz and vice-unit Lt. William Roseman detailed the investigation that led to the arrests during a news conference Thursday . They said police first learned of the 6-year-old website from a woman arrested in December on prostitution, drug and child-abuse charges.

Roseman said investigators believe the website was not set up to make money but to create an online community where carefully vetted customers could arrangement meetings with prostitutes.