ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Five people have been arrested as part of an underage prostitution sting, including a state employee. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office partnered with Homeland Security on the operation earlier this week.
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It involved posting a bait profile for a 15-year-old girl on the escort website. BCSO says five men showed up as arranged at a local hotel, cash in hand only to find the supposed teen was actually an undercover detective.
Jayden Nez, Alexis-Perez-Zuniga, Michael Jaramillo, Larry Jenkins and Aaron Maestas were all arrested and the state is pushing to keep them locked up until trial. Maestas works for the New Mexico Department of Health as a manager for a program serving people with developmental disabilities. The department says he has been placed on leave and locked out of his email, as the department conducts its own investigation.
