ICE arrests Albuquerque man on federal sex trafficking charges

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An Albuquerque man was charged Monday with sex trafficking in federal court.

Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated this case.

Shane Roach, 25, remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing set for July 8.

On July 1, HSI special agents arrested Roach on a criminal complaint charging him and co-defendant Angela Santillanes, 30, also of Albuquerque, with commercial sex trafficking.

The complaint alleges that on June 30, the victim, who Roach and Santillanes allegedly sex trafficked, requested help from the Albuquerque Police Department.  During subsequent interviews, the victim reported she had been sex trafficked by Roach for about a month and a half.  During that time, the victim allegedly was forced to engage in sex with men four or five times a day earning between $400 and $500, which Roach allegedly kept.  During that time, Roach allegedly beat the victim on a number of occasions, and threatened to harm her family if she left him.

Both Roach and Santillanes were previously arrested on state human trafficking charges and other offenses.  Santillanes has yet to be arrested on the charges in the federal criminal complaint.

If convicted of the offenses charged in the federal criminal complaint, Roach and Santillanes each face a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of life in prison.  Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations; defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Albuquerque Police Department’s Vice Unit participated in this investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman Cairns, District of New Mexico, is prosecuting this case.