NM woman transferred from Texas faces sex trafficking charge

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A local New Mexico woman had her initial appearance in federal court Thursday on sex trafficking charges.

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

Angela Santillanes, 30, remains in federal custody pending an arraignment and a detention hearing set for Saturday.

Santillanes was arrested in August in Dallas on an indictment charging her and co-defendant Shane Roach, 26, also of Albuquerque, with sex trafficking. She was recently transferred to New Mexico to face the charge in the indictment.

The indictment alleges that Santillanes and Roach used force, threats of force and coercion to cause the victim to engage in a commercial sex act between May and June 2015. It also alleges that the defendants committed this crime in Bernalillo County, New Mexico.

According to the criminal complaint filed in July, the victim who Santillanes and Roach allegedly trafficked contacted the Albuquerque Police Department June 10 with a request for help. During subsequent interviews, the victim alleged that she had been trafficked for sex 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 – money that Roach allegedly kept. During that time, Roach allegedly beat her on a number of occasions, and threatened to harm her family if she left him.

Roach was arrested in July. His trial is set for December in Albuquerque. If convicted of the offenses charged in the federal indictment, Santillanes and Roach each face a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of life in federal prison. Charges in indictments and criminal complaints are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Albuquerque Police Department’s Vice Unit assisted with the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman Cairns is prosecuting the case.