TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Sierra Vista Police Department (SVPD) arrested a man on Monday after he tried to pick up a 16-year-old teen for sex.
Officers responded to the report a resident made regarding his 16-year-old daughter on Golf Links Road.
On Monday, Sept. 18, an SVPD officer responded to a report of suspicious circumstances on Golf Links Road after a resident said his 16-year-old daughter was trying to leave the house in the middle of the night.
After reviewing the 16-year-old's texts, the father found it she was talking with a 35-year-old man and that they had exchanged inappropriate pictures.
Officers were able to identify the 35-year-old Sierra Vista resident as Jay Joseph Cruz Santos after receiving the 16-year-old's phone and using his online pictures and screen name.
Detectives maintained contact with Santos, who kept sending and requesting illicit photos that he said belonged to another juvenile. Santos proposed that they meet later that night to have sexual relations.
Santos was arrested when he arrived at Sierra Vista Mall at 7:44 p.m. to pick up the 16-year-old girl he believed he had been chatting with online.
He was booked into the Cochise County Jail on the following charges:
- Sexual exploitation of a minor
- Aggravated luring of a minor
- Luring a minor
This investigation is still active.
Anyone with information, contact SVPD Detective Thomas Ransford at Thomas.Ransford@SierraVistaAZ.gov.
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Bivian Contreras is a real-time editor for KGUN 9. Bivian graduated from the University of Arizona School of Journalism with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism with an emphasis in Broadcast and is currently pursuing a degree in Broadcast Operational Meteorology. Share your story ideas and important issues with Bivian by emailing bivian.contreras@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
