Text message sting turns the tables on suspected child predators
A new search warrant details how the FBI and Wake Forest police were able to arrest one of six men charged with human trafficking and soliciting prostitution.
In December the six were arrested as part of a multi-agency undercover sting operation targeting child sex predators.
The search warrants indicate Wake Forest police and the FBI were able to target Amadeo Vargas-Valera, 49, by posting ads on websites known for soliciting prostitution.
The warrants state that Vargas-Valera replied to the ad by text message, and an undercover police officer posed as a 15-year-old female.
Vargas-Valera told the undercover officer he wanted sex, according to documents, and the officer instructed Vargas-Valera to bring condoms and Sour Patch Kids candy to a Wake Forest hotel.
Vargas-Valera was given the hotel address and told to stand at the back door to wait for the undercover officer. When Vargas-Valera called the undercover officer and said he was waiting at the back door, he was taken into custody.
Vargas-Valera had bonded out of jail but was indicted this week for soliciting prostitution.
Five other men were charged in December after police posed as juveniles and traffickers. Meetings were set up in various locations throughout Wake Forest, where the men were taken into custody.
The Wake Forest Police Department arrested and charged the following six men:
- Amadeo Vargas-Varela, 49, of Raleigh, is charged with soliciting prostitution from a minor
- Frank Ferlo Jr., 60, of Raleigh, is charged with solicitation by computer or certain other electronic devices to commit an unlawful sex act.
- Anwar Antuan Overby, 40, of Durham, is charged with attempted first-degree statutory rape
- Jason Malone Lartigue, 42, of Rolesville, is charged with soliciting prostitution from a minor
- Calixto Gomez-Carreno, 43, of Garner, is charged with soliciting prostitution from a minor
- Esteban Javier Alvarez-Medina, 47, of Fuquay-Varina, is charged with soliciting prostitution from a minor
Technology makes it easier for traffickers to target children
Police officials say one of the reasons child sex crimes and human trafficking are on the rise is because predators now have access to their victims via home computers and cell phones.
Dean Duncan, University of North Carolina professor and the head of Project NO REST, an organization that works to increase awareness of human trafficking, defines it as the use of force, fraud or coercion to get someone to do something – often labor or sex.
"It's a crime where a person is lured into a situation hoping for a better outcome," Duncan says. Victims are "looking for a way to live the better life or a good life."
In 2021, he says, there were 165 reported cases of sex trafficking and 34 cases of labor trafficking in North Carolina, but many cases are never reported.
Duncan encourages all families to talk to their children about the dangers of being lured into servitude, to check their phones and computers, and to look for signs of them being withdrawn or less available, including being aware if a child has access to new items, including cellphones.
