Men accused of selling drugs to Longmont students, trading drugs for sex with girls
A Boulder County grand jury has indicted three men with selling drugs to Longmont students and exchanging drugs for sex with female students.
Mario Moren, 24, Angelo Torres, 21, and Aldair Garcia Rodriguez, 23, were taken into custody after the grand jury reached its conclusions Jan. 12.
The trio is accused of selling cocaine, MDMA (ecstacy), marijuana and marijuana concentrate to students at various public schools in Longmont between May 2021 and June of 2022. They allegedly sold drugs to males and females between the ages of 14 and 17.
Moreno arranged much of the drug activity through a Snapchat account which was being monitored by law enforcement, according to the indictment. Longmont detectives also conducted physical surveillance and tracked Moreno's vehicles by GPS device.
Drug interactions with a number of the teenage girls became sexual. The indictment mentions one interaction initiated with a SnapChat from Moreno to a girl: "Are you still down to do that deal we talked about a while ago?"
One victim testified to the grand jury that, on at least one occasion, Moreno picked up two girls in his vehicle and drove them to his house. There, he and Torres offered and received sex in trade for an ounce of cocaine. The girls also allowed the two men to photograph them in their underwear and received an "eight ball" of cocaine in return.
Investigators believe there may be other victims.
Moreno faces 59 counts that are a mix of drug possession with intent to distribute, human trafficking, sexual assault and sexual servitude of a minor, contributing to the deliquency of a minor, child abuse, witness tampering, money laundering and tax evasion. He is being held on a $2 million bond.
Torres faces three charges, all felonies, and is being held on $200,000 bond.
Garcia Rodriquez faces five charges, also all felonies, and is jailed on a $1 million bond.
"Longmont Detectives in the Special Investigations Unit undertook this investigation into adults selling multiple drugs to school-aged children that included hundreds of hours of surveillance, over fifty search warrants, and combing through thousands of lines of conversation in social media files," Longmont Police Chief Jeff Satur stated in a press release announcing the indictment. "This was a significant and labor-intensive investigation. We are proud of our team."
As a point of clarification, Shannon Carbone, a spokesperson with the Boulder County District Attorney's Office, told CBS4 that victims and witnesses in human trafficking and sex offense cases such as this are often reluctant to cooperate with investigators. She did confirm that the victims and witnesses in this case were required to testify to the grand jury as a result of court-issued subpoenas.
"Our office will continue to support the victims and work closely with them and their families," Carbone said. "We encourage other victims to come forward."
