San Juan County is a county of approximately 121,000 residents located in the Northwest region of the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its county seat is Aztec, NM, and the county is part of the Farmington Metropolitan Statistical Area. Instances of prostitution and sex trafficking have been well-documented in incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county. Commercial sex activity has generated complaints to local law enforcement from residents and businesses. Among the more serious crimes associated with the county’s commercial sex market is child sex trafficking. The county has also reported issues with illicit massage businesses (IMB’s) and instances of child endangerment/abuse as a result of commercial sex activity. For example, in August 2017, the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office conducted an undercover operation at a local massage parlor after complaints of suspected prostitution activity occurring at an illicit massage business (IMB) had been reported to local law enforcement officials. Officers executed a search warrant after a female employee at the massage parlor attempted to solicit an undercover officer for sex. The investigation resulted in the arrest of the IMB’s owner and the prostituted woman on charges of promoting prostitution. The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office collaborated with the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, the Farmington Police Department, and the Bloomfield Police Department to conduct the undercover operation.

In effort to reduce demand for commercial sex in the county, the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office has been known to conduct reverse sting operations, targeting individuals seeking to purchase commercial sex. For example, in October 2017, a web-based reverse sting operation was conducted by the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office and the AG’s Office with assistance from the Farmington Police Department, and the Bloomfield Police Department, that resulted in the arrest of two men for attempting to buy commercial sex. According to reports, this investigation occurred as a result of the 2017 IMB investigation detailed above. One of the arrested sex buyers had attempted to sexually exploit a 15-year-old girl in exchange for money, and was charged with child solicitation by electronic communication device. In addition, the man also faced child abuse charges for leaving his 4-year-old alone to commit the crime. The other arrested sex buyer was charged with a first offense of soliciting a prostitute, a petty misdemeanor in the state of New Mexico. The identities and images of arrested sex buyers were released by the SJCSO in a press release regarding the investigation.

In January 2019, the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico Crimes Against Children Task Force conducted a web-based reverse sting operation that targeted individuals seeking to sexually exploit minors in exchange for money that resulted in the arrest of a 61-year-old Aztec man. According to a press release from the SJCSO the offender, “initiated a sexual conversation online, with a 13-year-old female and made plans to meet her for sexual intercourse.” Upon his arrival to the predetermined location, he was arrested by undercover deputies from the SJCSO who stated that, “When the suspect was taken into custody, it was observed that he had the button of his pants unbuttoned and his genitalia visible. Detectives interviewed [the offender] and received a full confession after his arrest.” The man was arrested on “the charges of child solicitation by electronic communication device and meets child (child 13-16) and child solicitation by electronic communication device (child 13-16).” The Aztec man was the third child predator arrested as a result of the sting within the month of January. His identity and image were included in reports by local media outlets.

The SJCSO has also participated in the nationwide effort targeting child predators called Operation Broken Heart. These operations “target suspects who: (1) produce, distribute, receive and possess child pornography; (2) engage in online enticement of children for sexual purposes; (3) engage in the sex trafficking of children; and (4) travel across state lines or to foreign countries and sexually abuse children.” As a result of For example, in the 2016 investigation, Operation Broken Heart III, the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office arrested seven individuals on child sexual exploitation charges. According to reports, the SJCSO made more arrests during the operation than any other law enforcement agency. The sheriff’s office employed three detectives who are part of the task force, which investigates people who solicit sex from minors or attempt to acquire child pornography during the investigation. The sheriff’s office was also the first agency to arrest someone in connection to the operation. As a result of the investigation, in New Mexico, a total of 21 arrests were made and the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force executed 63 search warrants and presented more than 150 cyber safety trainings and three public safety events.

Sex buyers and sex traffickers have also been arrested as a result of alternative investigations or residential reports to local law enforcement in the county. For example, in 1978, a a result of raid at a local brothel, two male sex buyers were arrested on patronizing prostitution charges. The 2017 IMB investigation detailed above, led to a secondary operation that resulted in the arrest of two male sex buyers, one of which was additionally charged with child abuse after having left his four-year-old alone at home to solicit sex from an underage female at the massage parlor.

On June 15, 2018, a then-patrol officer with the New Mexico State Police, conducted a traffic stop in Farmington, during which he came into contact with a 16-year old passenger. The ex-officer requested her phone number, email address, and date of birth. The officer in question then gave her a business card with his personal cell phone number and began texting her shortly after. According to the victim, the officer attempted to solicit her for sex in exchange for drugs. The 16-year-old girl reported the incident to her father who then reported it to police. In response, law enforcement also developed a confidential source (CS) who had prior dealings with the officer in question and she agreed to cooperate. As part of the CS’s cooperation, she allowed law enforcement to use her phone to pretend to be the CS when communicating with the offending officer. In those messages, he devised a plan in which the CS would tell him when she was driving with someone who had methamphetamine. The officer told the CS that he would conduct a traffic stop of the friend’s vehicle, locate the methamphetamine, and provide a portion of the methamphetamine to the CS in exchange for sex. Capehart was unaware that he was communicating this plan to law enforcement and that the CS’s friend would be an undercover agent. In accordance to the plan, the offending officer arrested the undercover agent and located the methamphetamine in their pocket. After booking the undercover agent in jail, in the early morning hours of June 29, 2018, he drove to a park located by the CS’s home in Bloomfield, NM. The offending officer then delivered more than five grams of methamphetamine by bathrooms in the park, which was also located within 1,000 feet of Central Primary Elementary School. Deputies from the SJCSO arrested the officer later that same day. He was initially placed on administrative leave after he was arrested at the Farmington state police office, then resigned about a month later on Aug. 3, 2018. His identity and image were included in reports by local media outlets.