Three Illegal Immigrants Allegedly Targeted Teenage Girls via Dating Apps
In a concerning case, three undocumented men from El Salvador have reportedly used dating applications to target teenage girls.
Officials from the Houston Police Department have arrested these three adult males, who allegedly posed as underage girls on the dating app Jaumo. They are currently being held in immigrant detention at Harris County Jail, according to immigration customs enforcement officials earlier this week.
Abner Lewis, 37; Erick Menjivar, 30; and Carlos Gomez, 33, were apprehended in separate incidents over the past ten days. Each faces charges related to online solicitation of minors, as outlined in court documents.
Interestingly, two of the suspects believed they were arranging to meet a 14-year-old girl, while the third was allegedly set to meet a 16-year-old.
Law enforcement stated that the ongoing investigations were not specifically aimed at illegal immigrants, suggesting that broader issues may be at play.
According to ICE, Gomez first entered the U.S. illegally on October 19, 2012, was then deported to El Salvador in 2020, and later returned to the U.S. at an unknown date. He wasn’t caught until his arrest on July 17 as part of the HPD’s undercover operations.
Upon realizing the teenager he was supposed to meet was actually a police officer, Gomez attempted to flee, reportedly running a stop sign, crashing his vehicle into a gate, and injuring a pedestrian in his escape.
Interestingly, this was not Gomez’s first encounter with law enforcement; he had a history of violent offenses against family members, with a conviction dating back to 2015.
Information on Lewis’s initial entry into the U.S. remains unclear, but July 17 marked his first interaction with law enforcement, according to ICE. Meanwhile, Menjivar was arrested on the same day and had previously crossed into the U.S. illegally near San Isidro, California, in July 2018.
Jaumo, the app in question, markets itself as “the first community-based dating app” and claims to connect local users. Notably, individuals under 18 are prohibited from using the platform, although users can send messages without a match, which raises additional concerns.
