SAN ANTONIO — A 19-year-old is in custody after authorities say he orchestrated a "ruse" where he would pose as a teen girl on social media in order to gain the trust of young victims before trying to meet or solicit photos from them.
Saul Falcon-Ibarra would then sell those photos he received, Sheriff Javier Salazar said. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) began its investigation in December, when the relative of a 14-year-old girl found she had been communicating with Falcon-Ibarra.
According to Salazar, Falcon-Ibarra would first pose as a teenage girl before, while still assuming that fake identity, pretend to introduce a victim to himself, at which point he’d try to “draw information out of her that then, under his other persona, he could use against this little girl.”
The suspect allegedly met up with the young victim at her school.
"We've got information that this is not the first victim he's victimized," Salazar said. "This is not a maybe; there are definitely other victims out there that are probably falling for it, just like this young lady did."
Falcon-Ibarra was arrested March 21 and released from jail two days later after posting bail. He faces charges of child pornography possession, child endangerment and online solicitation of a minor.
'Pretty disturbing'
Another man was arrested on child pornography charges, this suspect accused of having thousands of images of children being "brutally sexually assaulted" on his laptop.
Salazar said most of the children were between 2 and 9 years of age. A family member stumbled on the images while in the room of the suspect, 21-year-old Tristen Ruben McLelland.
"This is one of the more disturbing cases I heard in quite some time," Salazar said Wednesday afternoon.
The sheriff said McLelland would distribute the photos through Discord, a popular online communications platform, as well as videos of people engaged in sexual activity with animals.
McLelland was arrested Wednesday and faces several charges, including possession of child pornography with intent to promote and bestiality.
"I think we've just begun to scratch the surface of the depravity in this case," Salazar said.
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