For Immediate Release:
August 17, 2022
Contact: Jerri Mares – (505) 321-4372
ALBUQUERQUE — Today, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that Joshua Vigil pled guilty to five felony counts involving his sexual abuse and exploitation of children. Under the plea agreement accepted by the district court this afternoon, Vigil pled guilty to Criminal Sexual Penetration (1st Degree) (Child Under 13); Criminal Sexual Contact of a Minor in the Second Degree (Child Under 13); Sexual Exploitation of Children (Manufacturing); Possession of a Controlled Substance (Methamphetamine); and Possession Of Visual Medium of Sexual Exploitation of Children (Child Under 13). Vigil’s sentencing will be held at a later date, and he faces a minimum sentence of 21 years and a maximum sentence of 33 years in prison.
“Sexual abuse and online sexual exploitation of children is despicable, and we will not stand by while the most egregious offenders prey on New Mexico’s most vulnerable,” said Attorney General Balderas.
In early 2021, the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force at the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that Vigil was uploading child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Further investigation by the Albuquerque Police Department uncovered information that Vigil had been sexually abusing a child, recorded that abuse, and uploaded those videos to an internet account. Joshua Vigil was arrested as a result of cooperation between federal and local law enforcement on January 26, 2021.
This case was investigated by the Albuquerque Police Department in coordination with the Homeland Security Investigations, Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Caitlin Dillon, Jonathan Gardner, and Mark Probasco.
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