NM Department of Justice arrests man accused of distributing child sexual abuse material

Gregory Hasman, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·2 min read

May 21—An Albuquerque man has been accused of distributing dozens of sexual images of minors through a peer-to-peer file-sharing platform.

Jonathan Anzures, 36, is charged with possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material.

He is represented by the public defender's office, which declined to comment Tuesday.

Court records show that Anzures is scheduled to have a detention hearing Wednesday.

According to a pretrial motion, his arrest comes after a monthslong undercover online investigation involving an Internet Crimes Against Children task force and the New Mexico Department of Justice.

The investigation identified suspects using BitTorrent (or torrent), a file storage system, "to identify suspects using the platform to upload and share child sexual exploitation material/child sexual abuse material."

According to the motion, "in light of the heinous nature of the defendant's crimes, his overt violations of the law, the strength of the evidence in the present case, shows that the defendant is a danger to the community and that there are no conditions or combination of conditions that would reasonably protect the community."

The state Department of Justice said between Jan. 24 and Thursday, the DOJ received 57 images from an individual using an IP address that was traced to Anzures' girlfriend.

The motion states that after the DOJ arrived at Anzures' girlfriend's home with a warrant, Anzures gave the DOJ special agent the passcode to his cellphone. On the phone was "child sexual abuse material" that showed children under 18 posing nude in a "lewd and lascivious fashion." On a tablet, which Anzures' girlfriend told the DOJ belonged to him, were "dozens of images and videos" of other minors, including those younger than 13.

Despite Anzures' arrest, the Department of Justice expressed concern about Anzures in the pretrial motion. "The ease of access to digital devices and the inability of pretrial services to actively monitor digital media of the defendant ensures that there is no way to prevent re-offense," the motion states.

"Even at maximum supervision with pretrial services, the pretrial service officers do not conduct home visits and do not monitor electronic communications."