New Mexico police revealed a "shocking" practice in a community where parents allegedly sell their children for sex.
Agents shed light on this after arresting eight individuals last month while working undercover as people who did exactly that. But despite the detentions, "Operation Overwatch" showed that parents allegedly engaging in the crime remain at large.
"There are parents and guardians in New Mexico and, frankly, all over the world, who are actively engaged in trading their children for sex," said New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez when discussing the matter. "They are basically pimping them out for their own financial benefit."
Among those arrested for attempting to have sex with children are a teacher and a soccer coach. They are all being held in prison until their trials, with judges deeming them a danger to others.
Undercover agents used fake accounts on social media to lure the suspects and arrange meetings. Kyle Hartstock, who oversaw the operation, said he almost couldn't believe how people would fall for such simple tactics, but remembered that the arrests only "skim the surface." "We got the very, very top of the sea foam right now," he told KOAT 7.
Investigators highlighted the difficulty of identifying the parents exploiting their children, detailing it's a "much easier operation for our law enforcement officers to put together when they are able to create a decoy account." Torrez has sued social media companies for policies he claims put obstacles in investigations, especially encryption shields allowing offenders to hide their identities.
"They have intentionally blinded themselves to the one space within their platform that is the primary means for these kinds of parents to direct sick individuals who might be interested in sex with their children," Torrez said.
However, he issued a warning to all those potentially involved in such practices: "Any parent who is engaged in this kind of horrific behavior... should be on notice that the New Mexico Department of Justice and our special agents and our law enforcement partners are actively looking for them."
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