It took only nine days for a multi-agency undercover online chat operation to attract eight people from Albuquerque and the surrounding areas who allegedly wanted to have sex with children. Another suspect identified by the state Department of Justice-led law enforcement mission is still at large.

Of the eight whose arrests were announced at a press conference Monday, one is a middle school teacher; another a graduate student instructor at University of New Mexico.

Some suspects were initially cautious, but overcame their fear that they were speaking to "bait cops" who were posing online as underage females or fathers trafficking their daughters for sex, according to criminal complaints filed against eight men and a woman.

Yet another told an arresting officer with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department that it was "worth the risk of going to jail to have sex with a 13-year-old," a criminal complaint states.

"The types of individuals that we've identified today are apprehended in this way, which is thinking that they're going to meet up with a child. They actually meet up with an undercover agent," said state Attorney General Raúl Torrez during a Monday press conference. "The last thing we want is for them to actually encounter a child in the real world. And that's what we're trying to stop."

Those charged are Rafael Eduardo Rosas, 28; Jonathan M. Rodriguez, 30; Samantha Clark, 35; Matthew Ray Jaramillo, 44; Stephen Charles Phillips, 51, a middle school teacher; Mahmoud Telfah, 35, a UNM graduate student who teaches classes at UNM; Sean A. Rhea, 36; Jonmichael Seagroves, 35,; and Stephen Joseph Rittereiser, 38, who is not in custody, but a warrant has been issued for his arrest. It wasn't immediately clear where Phillips is a teacher, but an Albuquerque Public Schools spokesman said he isn't listed as working for APS.

All are charged with criminal solicitation via electronic devices, attempted criminal sexual penetration and other related offenses. Agents from Torrez's agency, BCSO, Albuquerque Police Department, the Santa Fe Police Department, the FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations participated in the investigation. The suspects contacted the fake personas between Oct 1 and Oct 9, according to Torrez's agency.

The NMDOJ and assisting agencies created decoy accounts hosted on "non traditional" online sites such as Kik, Fetlife, SkiptheGames, MocoSpace, Grindr, and Sniffies, the NMDOJ said. The accounts portrayed underage users and in some cases parents who were interested in offering their children for sex in exchange for money. Surveillance was set up once the suspects contacted the accounts and proposed having sex with the users, or who they thought were the children of "bad dads" trafficking their daughters.

Ultimately, the suspects arranged in-person meetings.

Torrez said agents were "strategically staged inside two homes in Albuquerque" waiting for the perpetrators to arrive, and they were arrested. All but Rittereiser and Rodriguez were jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center on Monday evening awaiting pretrial detention hearings.

"I hope this is really a kind of wake-up call to all these predators that come and prey on our children, our most vulnerable, " said FBI Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda of Albuquerque. "Every year, thousands of children become victims of crimes whether it's through kidnapping, violent attack, sexual abuse, human trafficking or online predators.

"New Mexico parents play a huge role in this as well," Bujanda said. "We need parents to know exactly what their children are doing. We need parents to be involved. They need to be someone their children can go to in times of need so that they can ask the questions that need to be asked."

Jason Stevens, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, said his agency's personnel were "out there at night and on the weekend ensuring that this operation not only was concluded safely but successfully. Child sexual exploitation and abuse has increased exponentially and is now a global epidemic."

BCSO Sheriff John Allen said that law enforcement knows more predators are out there, but that "we're a fortified front here standing in front of you. We are looking for you. We know that you can't help yourself...."

Allen said people write him daily about crime, but "you would be surprised how many requests and problems that I get on child exploitation and it is overwhelming."

"Parents and guardians please, please pay attention to what your children are doing... what they are doing online, specifically what they're just doing on their phone. Notice the warning signs, if they're able to speak to you. If they've had a problem when they come home and they're not even able to talk about what happened at school."

APD Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock said when law enforcement identifies "these bad actors, we are stopping a future sexual assault of a child."

Torrez said, "We've filed numerous civil actions against large social media platforms and we make the case again and again. Parents need to be mindful about what is going on with their kids. Specifically who they are communicating with on video game platforms, in all virtual spaces, every internet platform and social media application."

It wasn't a stretch for "Operation Overwatch" to create a "bad dad" persona offering his child for sex, Torrez said.

"There are absolutely parents that are trafficking children," he said, "their own children online, in online spaces."

 - TNS