On March 31st, 2025, Angel Gomez Rubio was sentenced to 97 years in prison following his arrest in November of 2023. He pled guilty to 21 charges, which included 10 counts of Trafficking for Sexual Servitude. His co-defendant, Fernando Pacheco’s case is still ongoing.
The two men targeted middle and high school girls, whom he connected with on social media, providing them with drugs and vapes in exchange for sexual acts. Their victim”s age ranged from 11 to 15 years old, all from Boulder and nearby areas along the Rocky Mountain Front range. As a result of the investigators following a “trauma-informed and victim centered approach” victims felt safe to come forward. They were able to identify 13 victims, and suspect more victims were involved.
How did this happen? Did anyone notice the girls? Were there changes in behavior? Were there more absences from school or did their grades drop? What social media sights were used? How did they build trust or groom the girls? Was sextortion involved?
The dangers are very real. There remain many concerns and unanswered questions as to how we can address these growing risks and protect minors. But one thing is obvious, we need to educate more parents, teens, teachers, and others on the dangers of social media, signs of potential exploitation, and what to do if you suspect someone is being trafficked.
Minors are extremely at risk, more so now than even a few years ago. “Financial sextortion is the fastest-growing cybercrime against youth in the U.S. and predators are specifically targeting teen boys.” Sextortion occurs when predators persuade individuals to send them sexually explicit images or videos. Once the predator receives them, they threaten to release them, disseminate them, among family, school, Facebook or other means unless the victim sends them money or follows their demands. Parents and teens need to realize that “www” means world-wide-web. Any time they are on the internet they are exposing themselves to perpetrators from around the world who know how to attract, groom, and exploit them. Shared Hope International has reported that at any one time, there may be as many as 500,000-750,000 predators online, on the world-wide web, and that many are using multiple profiles across multiple apps. Over half of the victims of online sexual exploitation are between 12-15 years old. It is important to note that many perpetrators, especially as it relates to sextortion, are from other countries, which can make it extremely difficult to investigate and/or prosecute. With growing access to artificial intelligence, sextortion may happen even if the person doesn’t send sexually explicit photos. Perpetrators are able to use AI to create realistic fake images and videos of teens, or modify real images of real teens to profit and exploit.
One potential strategy:
Many organizations have developed curriculums for schools or churches. Some schools have recognized the need and invited speakers to teach their faculty or students, but not enough. It is time for a different strategy: peer-to-peer advocates; teens who are willing to learn about sex trafficking/sextortion and internet safety. It is time to recruit mature, responsible teens in your sphere of influence and train them to intervene among their peers, their social networks: schools, churches, clubs, etc. Shared Hope has resources to help, including literature and three free e-learning programs. They are also developing programs specifically designed to train teens. Here are three free e-learning programs that I have personally reviewed and recommend.
VOI: Victim-offender Intersectionality
EXPLOITED: understanding Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
RESPOND: Treating Human Trafficking in the Field
Other examples of resources include:
Sarah’s Home anti-trafficking education
Finally, unless we address the demand side all our efforts will be fruitless. Pornography is so widely available to teens. Pornography is so ubiquitous in our culture it is seen as normal and harmless by many of our young people. It is vital that we have tough, sensitive conversations with our teens about sex and intimacy, not only for their protection, but again so that they can be advocates for their peers. If we don’t, we can warn them about online safety as much as possible, but without addressing the reality of the demand side that fuels sexual exploitation, they themselves are at risk of exploitation or being complicit in trafficking by consuming pornography. It is that serious.
Covenant Eyes reported from their research the following:
73% of teens have consumed pornography.
45% of teens believe that pornography gives helpful information about sex.
The average age of first exposure to pornography is 12.
57% of teens have not discussed pornography with a trusted adult.
52% of teens have seen violent pornography.
38% of teens said they had viewed pornography on social media within the past year.
Children exposed to pornography are more than 3 times as likely to engage in problematic sexual behavior.
Here is a brief 3 min video from Louie Greek, Truckers Against Trafficking, explaining how pornography is the demand that fuels sex trafficking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSXWHBmXq5g
In summary: encourage responsible youth in your school, church, club or neighborhood to learn about sex trafficking and internet safety so that they can be an advocate, a good caring friend, to their peers. They can have a greater access and impact in preventing domestic sex trafficking and online exploitation than many adults.