Federal authorities say eight people have been indicted on sex trafficking charges that involved minors in New Mexico and Arizona.
Prosecutors said Thursday the defendants also are charged with conspiring to transport minors to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Seven of the defendants are from New Mexico and range in age from 19 to 29. The eighth is a 54-year-old Phoenix man who has yet to be arrested in the case and is considered a fugitive.
The superseding indictment charges the eight defendants with conspiring to recruit and force minors to engage in com-mercial sex acts in New Mexico’s Bernalillo County and elsewhere between February 2017 and January 2018. Five of the defendants also are charged with transporting a minor in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.
