Three Unrelated Alleged Child Predators Busted in One Texas City

Three alleged child predators got busted in one day in the same Texas city but in completely unrelated incidents. The three suspects purportedly tried to entice underage girls into having sex with them. Two of the men sought their prey using social media phone apps to arrange for sex with teenage girls. The third attempted to engage his female subject the old-fashioned way, approaching her as she walked home from school.

All of these cases came of out San Antonio on Friday.

Police charged 27-year-old Ignacio Requenes-Ibarra with criminal solicitation of a minor in a case brought to light by one mother’s actions to protect her 13-year-old daughter from the purported child predator. According to KENS 5 (CBS), the suspect purportedly struck up an online relationship with the underage teen over the social media cell phone app “Kik.” Allegedly, he tried to solicit sex from the girl, asking her for naked photos and videos and said he wanted to have sex with her at a local motel on March 2.

According to San Antonio police, the unidentifed Bexar County parent took matters into her own hands to catch the predator, posing as the daughter online to communicate with Requenes-Ibarra. She successfully lured him into agreeing to meet at a motel and arranged for law enforcement to be there. When Requenes-Ibarra pulled into the motel parking lot, officers pulled him over for a traffic violation. However, they initially released him pending an arrest warrant. Ironically, he messaged mom, still undercover as her daughter, to say he was “just stopped by police.” Requenes-Ibarra was later taken into custody and charged with the online solicitation of a minor.

In the second case, a San Antonio investigative official posed as a 14-year-old girl on the social media app “Whisper” to nab alleged child predator Jeffrey Bryan Forrest, 34. According to KSAT 12 (ABC), Forrest started texting the undercover agent, asking for nude photos, and also offered the supposed “girl” $5,000 to have sex with him on Feb. 12. Police documents revealed that Forrest admitted to the crime and “hand wrote an apology letter” to alleged girl. In it, Forrest asked the father for his forgiveness for his actions. San Antonio police charged Forrest with online solicitation of a minor.

In the third unrelated case, San Antonio police arrested 31-year-old Johnathan Tenorio on a charge of criminal solicitation of a minor for an incident that occurred on Nov. 20, 2015 where an officer saw a 14-year-old girl crying while walking home from school, the San Antonio ABC-TV affiliate also reported. The girl told police that Tenorio followed her home from school, telling her he wanted to have sex with her. Later, in a videotaped statement, Tenorio said he would apologize to this alleged victim.

Texas seriously cracks down on child predators. In February, Breitbart Texas’ Bob Price reported Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the arrest of the 200th online child predator under the Child Exploitation Unit, created by the Texas AG’s office in 2003. Since the unit’s inception, authorities arrested 232 people for possessing and promoting child pornography. Factoring in online sexual violators brings the total number of arrests made up to 433. The article footnoted that the AG’s office revealed they made 591 separate convictions against child sex predators. Paxton urged all parents and teachers to recognize the risks today’s children face online.

Sgt. Dara Bowlin, a criminal investigator at the AG’s office, addressed this critical topic of child internet safety and security issues when speaking in the Houston area in February. She stressed to parents about their children: “Talk to them about online privacy. When they’re old enough, talk to them about sexting and what online solicitation is. Also, cyber bullying is an important topic to discuss with your kids,” the East Montgomery County Observer reported. Like the San Antonio mother, Sgt. Dara Bowlin posed as a 14-year-old girl online to lure an alleged cyber-sex child predator to justice.

Follow Merrill Hope on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom.