Filipina arrested on federal child porn charges in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico – Jade Tiffany Laurezo, 34, a native of the Philippines, made her initial appearance July 5, 2018 in federal court in Roswell, New Mexico, on a criminal complaint charging her with possessing child pornography.

Laurezo, who has been in the United States for several months on a visitor’s visa, remains in federal custody pending a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing, both of which are scheduled for July 11, 2018, in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

According to the criminal complaint, the investigation leading to Laurezo’s arrest began in March 2018, when the Chaves County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) followed up on a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding an email address subscribed to a Roswell residence where Laurezo was residing

that allegedly was used to upload three files of child pornography.  On June 27, 2018, the CCSO executed a state search warrant at the residence.

While executing the search warrant, the officers seized a cellular phone, which allegedly belonged to Laurezo.  On July 3, 2018, the CCSO executed a state search warrant on the cellular phone and found that it contained four videos of child pornography.

If convicted of possession of child pornography, Laurezo faces up to ten years of imprisonment and will be deported after completing any prison sentence imposed.  Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty in a court of law.

This case was investigated by the Roswell office of the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Chaves County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander B. Shapiro of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office is prosecuting the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico.