SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County authorities say two men – one of whom is allegedly in the U.S. by illegal means – are in custody after paying a 14-year-old girl for sex on multiple occasions.
The two suspects met the girl at a far-west-side Walmart in July, where they exchanged information and started communicating on Instagram before meeting up for sex, according to Sheriff Javier Salazar. The girl's mother contacted law enforcement on August 21 after finding "very concerning photos" on her daughter's phone and discovering the explicit messages on her Instagram account.
The two Honduras-born men – 21-year-old Carlos Mejia-Melgar and 19-year-old Josue Dariel Marquez Urrutia, the latter of which authorities said is undocumented – were arrested in the area of Marbach and West Military on Wednesday afternoon. They face multiple charges, including aggravated sexual assault of a child.
“We’re happy this mom got involved to the extent that she did," Salazar said. "None of us want to be that helicopter parent; we want to know our children are growing up into responsible adults. But still, we’ve got to be on top of what they’re doing.”
Salazar said Mejia-Melgar and Urrutia paid the girl "several hundreds of dollars in cash" in exchange for the sex acts. Investigators were able to identify the suspects after determining aliases they were using on social media.
Earlier in the day Wednesday, San Antonio police officials arrested a 29-year-old man in a similar case, saying the suspect was messaging a young girl on social media with the intent of meeting with her for sex.
Anyone else who believes they may have been victimized by the suspects is urged to contact the Bexar County Sheriff's Office at (210) 335-6000.
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