FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 16, 2016
Contact: James Hallinan (505) 660-2216
Roosevelt County, NM – Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas announced that on December 15, 2016, a Portales man was arrested by agents with the Office of the New Mexico Attorney General, the FBI, and the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office on three counts of attempted Criminal Sexual Penetration of a Minor. After a five month investigation, 24-year-old Lane Ellsworth was arrested after investigators say he met with an undercover agent who was posing as a mother of a 10-year-old girl he offered to engage in inappropriate sexual acts.
“Protecting New Mexico children from heinous acts of sexual violence and exploitation is our top priority,” said Attorney General Balderas. “I want to thank the FBI and the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance in this matter.”
Attorney General Balderas is committed to protecting children from cyber predators through his ICAC Unit and the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, which is a multi-agency network of law enforcement personnel statewide whose mission is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers. The Office of the Attorney General ICAC Unit has a fully equipped computer lab specifically designed to provide forensic analysis to law enforcement agencies working ICAC cases and special criminal investigations serving all of New Mexico’s 33 counties.
See attached for a picture of Ellsworth.
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