Silicon Valley Sex-Traffic Arrest Fuels Search For More Victims

Palo Alto CA

08 September, 2020

9:29 PM

Description

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — A 22-year-old Sunnyvale man recently was arrested for several child-sex crimes after a 15-year-old girl in a parked car at a local Target told police she was waiting for her "boyfriend," who drove her from Arizona to Mountain View, according to authorities. Investigators now believe the suspect, Justin Watson, arrested after he exited the retailer, had contact with numerous minors — likely via Snapchat — and are attempting to find other victims, the Mountain View Police Department said. "We are extremely concerned that there are others who may have been victimized by Watson," the agency said. Mountain View police were first tipped to the possible plight of the trafficked teen in late July when a woman contacted detectives, saying she suspected her husband, Watson, allegedly met a girl over the messaging-app Snapchat and that the teenager was now in the Mountain View area, officials said. Attempts to contact or locate Watson or the minor proved unsuccessful, police said, until Aug. 3 when a patrol unit responded to a suspicious-vehicle call from Target at 555 Showers Drive in Mountain View. "When our patrol officer arrived on (the) scene, he met with a teenage girl, sitting in a car that was idling outside the store," the department said. "In speaking with her, officers learned that she was 15 years old and had been brought to Mountain View from Arizona after her boyfriend, who she identified as Watson, had driven out to pick her up." "While speaking with the teen, Watson walked out of the store, and he was subsequently detained without incident," police said. He was arrested for suspicion of unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation with a person under the age of 18, oral copulation with a minor by force, fear or distress, showing or sending harmful material to seduce a minor, contacting a minor with the intent to commit certain felonies and sexual penetration with a minor, according to authorities. Invistigators said Watson had contact with "potentially dozen of other victims, spanning well beyond the Bay Area," as he often posed on Snapchat as a 16- or 17-year-old, making contacts and requesting photos, officials said. Possible victims of Watson's, or those who may know someone who was, can contact Det. Angelica Espitia at [email protected] or (650) 903-6364. ALSO SEE: COVID-19 Tier Drop: Santa Clara Co. Lowered From Highest Ranking