The Pima County Attorney’s Office has released additional details regarding the status of five suspects charged in a child sexual exploitation investigation previously announced by the Tucson Police Department earlier this week.
According to prosecutors, Samuel Noel Talavera is currently being held on a $1 million bond. Marcos Rene Lopez-Martinez has been assigned a $200,000 bond, while Saul Alejandro Murillo-Morales is being held on a $300,000 bond. Two other defendants, Ricky Evan Rodriguez and Nathanial Maximus Alvarez, have posted bond and are no longer in custody. Rodriguez posted a $25,000 bond, and Alvarez posted a $50,000 bond.
Court records show prosecutors requested higher bond amounts for several of the defendants. The Pima County Attorney’s Office sought a $1 million bond for Talavera, $500,000 for Murillo-Morales, $100,000 for Rodriguez, and $100,000 for Alvarez. Judges ultimately reduced the bond amounts for the four local defendants. Prosecutors were successful in securing the full $1 million bond for Talavera.
The four local men were arrested and indicted separately on various dates over the past several months. Once investigators completed their work related to Talavera, he was arrested by Tucson police with assistance from federal authorities in North Carolina and later transported to Tucson.
On Dec. 4, a Pima County grand jury returned a new indictment that includes Talavera and the four other defendants, consolidating the cases under a single case number. As part of standard legal procedure, the four earlier case numbers associated with the local defendants were dismissed earlier this week.
Authorities say the consolidated case allows prosecutors to move forward with the charges as a unified matter. The Tucson Police Department previously released initial information about the investigation earlier this week.
The case remains ongoing, and no trial dates have been announced.
