For Immediate Release:
January 21, 2019
Contact: Matt Baca — (505) 270-7148
ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that
Joshua Saavedra, a longtime foster parent from Albuquerque who agreed to trade drugs
and money for sex with who he believed to be a 13-year-old girl, was sentenced to eight
years in prison by Second Judicial District Court Judge Brett Loveless following a guilty
plea to the crime of sexual exploitation of children by prostitution. In March 2019, agents
with the Attorney General’s Internet Crimes against Children/Human Trafficking Unit
spearheaded this undercover sting operation by posing as a mother selling sexual access
to her 13-year-old daughter online.
“Protecting our children from sexual predators remains the top priority for my office,” said
Attorney General Balderas. “We will continue to investigate and prosecute dangerous
adults who are ready and willing to prey upon New Mexican children.”
Saavedra answered the agents’ fictitious online ad, engaged in sexual chat with the
agents, agreed online to trade sex with the girl for $20 and pills, and arrived at the agreedupon hotel with the drugs.. When he was arrested, Saavedra claimed he planned to meet
the girl to rescue her from an abusive situation since he was also a foster parent.
Saavedra will be subject to an indeterminate period of both probation and parole of
between five and 20 years and will be required to register as a sex offenderupon his
release from prison
This case was both investigated and prosecuted by members of the Office of the Attorney
General. Assistant Attorney General Van Snow prosecuted this case.