Tijuana Police Bust Two for Pimping Out a Lad

Tijuana police stopped four males in a Chevy Lumina with U.S. plates in the Zona Norte on the eve of July 23. Two of the men were arrested; one of the passengers was a 13-year-old boy from Nayrit, allegedly the victim of sexual exploitation. Another man aboard, a 22-year-old of legal age, was not arrested.

Ramón García García, 32, of Sinaloa, and Marck Rivera García, 39, of San Diego, were detained by police for the crime of exploiting a minor for sexual purposes. The boy told police he was solicited to perform sex acts for $50 and that it was not the first time he had engaged in such with the San Diego man.

It turns out that the minor was one of several who had their services advertised on an website called “BorderVatos (“Vato” is Mexican slang for a “cool dude,” with perhaps a “bad boy” bent…), the purpose of which was to solicit customers for sexual relations with the youths.

An investigation by the state’s prosecutor general’s human-trafficking division revealed that the minor was contacted in Nayarit and travel expenses were paid for him to come to Tijuana in order to be sexually exploited via the website, although the lad claimed to be unaware of the sex angle. The youth was offered extra money, up to 80 dollars, if he could recruit other minors into the scheme.

The manufacturing of gay porn videos for sale is also one of the crimes the State Prosecutor’s office is investigating in regard to the website’s progenitors, two more of whom have yet to be identified.

Ramón García, apparently willing to give a press conference, told media reps that he was only setting up “muchachos” (boys) with clients who would pay up to 200 pesos ($15 U.S.) or more for them, although he also revealed that, on occasion he would sell his list of contacts to others, who would then use it for soliciting potential clients. He also identified himself as a practicing gay prostitute since the age of 22.

Marck Rivera told the members of the media that he had frequently “contracted” minor boys for sex in Tijuana, especially around Plaza Santa Cecilia, but was unaware that to do so was a crime.

Both men are presently ensconced in the penitentiary at La Mesa awaiting arraignment, while police hope to arrest the two others involved in the operation of “BorderVatos.”

Source: La Segunda/El Mexicano, July 26 edition)