Four illegal immigrants were among 11 men busted for traveling to a suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana, to have sex with an underage girl, authorities said.
Following their arrests, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged detainers for the suspects from Senegal, Nigeria, Mexico and El Salvador who allegedly sought sex with a minor.
Hamilton County’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force set up the sting operation in September, FOX59/CBS4 reported.
The alleged sex offenders tried to meet up with the minor at a house in Westfield, Indiana, for what they believed were sexual encounters, police said.
Westfield is a wealthy, fast-growing northern suburb of Indianapolis located in Hamilton County, Indiana.
“The predators of our day in the white van outside the mall are in the phones in the children’s hands at night all the time, and the parents aren’t there,” Lt. Doug Baker, Hamilton County Metro ICAC supervisor, told FOX59/CBS4.
Filomeno Ricardo Flores Marin, 43, of Indianapolis, has been charged with child solicitation, sexual misconduct with a minor and dissemination of matter harmful to a minor, all felonies.
Flores Marin is a Mexican citizen who entered the U.S. illegally in 2002, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
Another illegal migrant from Nigeria, Lucky Udoudo, 30, of Carmel, also faces charges for child solicitation and sexual misconduct with a minor. Udoudo entered the U.S. as a gotaway at an unknown date and location, DHS officials said.
According to another report by FOX59/CBS4, an undercover officer posing as the girl told Flores Marin she was 14 years old, while Udoudo thought the girl was 15. They continued to communicate with the teenager and turned the conversations sexual.
Flores Marin allegedly sent nude photographs of himself to the supposed teenager.
“You like it, baby?” he reportedly asked.
Flores Marin’s criminal history also includes a prior arrest for stolen property, Fox News reported.
Flores Marin was previously arrested by ICE on Jan. 18, 2019, while assisting the Drug Enforcement Administration on an operation in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was released on bond on March 7, 2019.
El Hadji Babacar Ndiaye, 26, of Indianapolis, was charged with child solicitation. Ndiaye, a Senegalese citizen, was caught and released at the southern border in September 2023 in Lukeville, Arizona, by the Biden administration, DHS officials said.
David Josue Gomez-Posada, 21, who gave an address in Texas, was charged with child solicitation. Gomez-Posada is from El Salvador and came into the U.S. illegally in 2017 as a juvenile, DHS officials said.
“We are calling on Indiana to honor our detainers,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News. “All of their claims will be heard by an immigration judge, and they will receive due process.”
In recent months, ICE officers have been in the Hoosier state carrying out enforcement operations. Indiana has also made headlines for several fatalities involving illegal immigrants, as well as semi-truck drivers busted hauling large loads of illegal drugs.
ICE officials announced 426 illegal immigrants, many with criminal histories, were arrested during “Operation Safe Community-Indiana.”
The five-day roundup took place Aug. 30 to Sept. 5 in the Indianapolis metro area as well as statewide. ICE agents located illegal offenders with criminal histories that include sex crimes, assault and battery, domestic assault, drug trafficking, assault with a dangerous weapon, burglary and driving while intoxicated.
Local authorities initiated the recent sex sting in Hamilton County, FOX59/CBS4 reported. The Westfield Police Department and the Hamilton County Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce conducted the joint undercover operation.
According to court documents, ICAC detectives created fake social media accounts on different platforms to pose as an underage girl.
Within a few days, several men allegedly pursued sexual conversations with the minor and sent nude photos. They then arranged to meet the girl for sex.
Instead, they were met at the front door by law enforcement, said Westfield Police Department Special Investigations Detective Sgt. Wade Burton.
The men ranged in age from 21 to 49 years old. Most lived in central Indiana, but detectives determined four of them were illegally in the country and notified ICE.
“No matter where you’re from, where you come from, where you live, if you show up to Hamilton County with the goal of sexually assaulting a child, we will use every resource to track you down and bring you to the Hamilton County Jail,” Burton said.
