Local Man Arrested for Allegedly Sending Explicit Images and Engaging in Sexual Communication with a Child Under 13

MILAN, NM – On March 7, Milan Police Department arrested Jordan Ramirez, 21, for alleged charges of Causing or Permitting Child to Engage in Sexual Exploitation (Child Under 13), Child Solicitation by Electronic Communication Device (Under 13), Tampering with Evidence (Highest Crime a Capital, First- or Second-Degree Felony), and Criminal Sexual Communication with a Child.

A mother approached Milan Police Department officers regarding texts and images that she had found on her daughter’s phone. Upon inspection officers found messages being exchanged between an older male and the under 13 daughters. The messages included explicit images and sexual communication that the daughter had been receiving from an unknown user on Instagram. Officers interviewed the mother who provided the daughters phone and screenshots of messages. Officers then sent out preservation letters to Instagram for both the daughters account and the unknown user’s account to prevent message deletion. Prior to the preservation letters officers could see that there were messages that had been deleted that were included in the screenshots provided by the mother.

Officers then sent out search warrants from the 13th Judicial District, and through the DA’s office to look through all of the messages and to find information to who the unknown account belongs to. It took roughly a month to receive the search warrant for the juvenile victim due to the amount of data, which was roughly 1600 pages long. For the male individual the search warrant took a couple weeks and didn’t include a lot of data, but through this they were able to see all the images and videos that he had sent to the juvenile victim which were extremely explicit. Officers were able to use the pictures and videos to identify distinctive items included in the individual’s room as well as distinctive tattoos on the individuals’ thighs. The only information that officers were able to find through the search warrant to identify the individual was the first name of the individual, the individuals date of birth and a phone number. The handle for the account had also been changed sometime in between when the mother came in and when officers received the search warrant.

Officers then sent out a search warrant to Verizon to get more information, and it took a month for officers to receive the search warrant back. When officers received the search warrant, they were able to allegedly tie the information back to Ramirez and were ready to obtain a search warrant of Ramirez’s house and an arrest warrant, the only issue was that it was outside of Milan Police Department’s jurisdiction. Officers decided to collaborate with State Police to conduct the search warrant on the house and to arrest Ramirez. Upon arriving at the house, Ramirez was not present, but officers provided search warrants to the family members and notified the family members that Ramirez’s room allegedly was a crime scene and if they interfere, they would be tampering with evidence. According to officers the family was extremely cooperative. Ramirez eventually arrived at the residence and all family members signed consent to the search warrant and Ramirez allegedly turned over his phone to officers.

Officers then began the search warrant and searched the Ramirez’s room. Officers were allegedly able to identify the distinctive items that they observed from the photos and videos sent to the juvenile victim and allegedly matched them to the Ramirez’s room. Officers then interviewed Ramierz and he allegedly denied that it was his Instagram account and he didn’t know the username. Officers then began reading the messages sent to the juvenile before Ramirez allegedly confessed. Officers then obtained a search warrant of Ramirez’s person and allegedly matched the tattoos on his thighs to the photos and videos sent to the juvenile. Officers are working to obtain a search warrant for the phone that Ramirez allegedly turned over to officers.

When asked what their thoughts on social media following this case officers said, “It’s scary. The potential for predators to get a hold of children on [social media] is very easy. Most parents they are not monitoring, they will go through and make sure they don’t have the app, but it’s still on the internet, they just go through a browser and look it up.” Officers also said that it is useful for children to have phones, but there is a fine line between a child having a phone with YouTube Kids or similar apps to Instagram or Snapchat where children can be targeted.

Officers said that they have also heard a lot of stories about similar things happening to other children in the area but not a lot of reports of a crime occurring, “Parents may not see a crime because they don’t see pictures or they don’t see really explicit texts, but it is not so where it is, that’s where it starts. They poke around and prod around… I’m sure there’s a lot more people that don’t come forward, whether they don’t want their children’s name out there, which is completely understandable. They don’t want the backlash of it being somebody else’s kid. There are so many different ways that it can go and people will justify it in their own way, but it’s something that should come forward and needs to come forward.”

On March 15, Ramirez attempted to motion to attend a concert which was denied by the Cibola County Magistrate Court. The Preliminary Examination hearing for Ramirez is scheduled for April 30, 2024.