BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — Three men accused of providing drugs to school students in exchange for money and sexual acts have been indicted on multiple charges, the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Following an investigation by the Longmont Police Department and DA’s office, 24-year-old Mario Moreno, 21-year-old Angelo Torres and 23-year-old Aldair Garcia-Rodriguez were indicted by a grand jury on Jan. 12.
“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. This investigation also uncovered the human trafficking of minors that was investigated by the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office,” Longmont Police Chief Jeff Satur said.
Moreno has been indicted on 59 charges including:
- one count of an indeterminate sex assault on a child
- four counts of human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude
- three counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance
- one count of possession of a controlled substance
- two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute
- 22 counts of distribution of a controlled substance to a minor
- seven counts of child abuse
- nine counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor
- four counts of special offender
- four counts of tampering with a witness
- one count of possession of a weapon by a previous offender
- one count of money laundering
- one count of tax evasion
He is being held on a $2 million bond and is looking at the possibility of life in prison.
Torres was indicted on three charges including:
- one count of human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude
- one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor
- one count of distribution of a controlled substance to a minor
He is being held on a $200,000 bond and remains in custody.
Garcia-Rodriguez was indicted on five charges including:
- three counts of human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude
- two counts of distribution of a controlled substance to a minor
Garcia-Rodriguez’s bond is $1 million and he is facing up to 48 years in prison on each of the human trafficking charges, and prison sentences on the other felony charges of between 8 and 32 years.
Investigation reveals drugs for sex with teenage girls
An investigation began in September of 2021 after Longmont Police Department Special Investigations Unit officers caught a 21-year-old man buying drugs at Loomiller Park while they were working surveillance of the park.
The man told police who he bought from and how he contacted that dealer through Snapchat. Police showed him a photo of Moreno and the man confirmed that was his dealer, an arrest affidavit said.
The special unit conducted a monthslong investigation into the process and everyone involved in Moreno’s drug dealing setup. A GPS tracker was put on Moreno’s car, and his social media was monitored after police obtained warrants to learn how his distribution network was organized.
Police said Moreno’s Snapchat contained photos, video and audio evidence of his drug deals including a photo of a cocaine brick being weighed on a scale. Torres was seen in a video with Moreno and a brick of cocaine with them saying they were “trafficking drugs,” the affidavit said.
Longmont officers conducted interviews with Moreno’s customers, some being minors, who confirmed Moreno sold them cocaine between July 18, 2021 and Jan. 18, 2022.
One customer testified to the grand jury that another person sold them drugs while Moreno was out of town a few times and identified that person as Garcia-Rodriguez.
Another customer testified that Moreno sold them MDMA and another was sold marijuana and marijuana concentrate.
Several teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 17 who were students at various schools in the St. Vrain Valley School District testified that Moreno and Torres had sex with them or engaged in sexual acts in exchange for cocaine they were given in multiple separate instances. The two also took photos of some of the girls in their underwear, which was found in Snapchat records, the affidavit said.
LPD and the Boulder DA’s Office are asking any victims of Moreno’s drug distribution network to contact Detective Daniel Kilian at 303-774- 3693 or DA Senior Investigator Edna Munoz at 303-441-1355.
