Police: Ex-Española cop stationed at school had cell-phone photo of nude boy
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Affidavit: Former school resource officer was text-messaging 15-year-old
8/26/2008 - 8/27/08
An Española police school resource officer is no longer with the department after being accused of exchanging sexual messages with a 15-year-old boy and having a nude photo of him in his cell phone, according to police and court documents.Jeffrey B. Martinez's last day was Monday, police said Tuesday, although for personnel reasons police declined to say whether Martinez was fired or quit.
Allegations against Martinez are outlined in a search warrant affidavit filed in state District Court late last week. Martinez has not been arrested or charged with a crime, according to Española police, who said state police are handling the investigation.
Efforts to reach Martinez for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Martinez, 34, joined the Española police in November 1999 after working for the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department, police said. He had been a school resource officer for a few years until last year, when he became an administrative officer who dealt with grants, recruiting and training. Police said in the past year he had filled in as a school resources officer.
The affidavit says a confidential source told police Aug. 14 about learning a few months ago that Martinez had a picture on his cell phone of the boy lying naked on a bed and exposing his penis. A police detective spoke with the boy Aug. 20 at Española Valley High School, the affidavit says.
The boy's story changed during the interview, according to the report, from his denying ever posing nude for a photo to saying his girlfriend took it to saying someone else might have sent Martinez the photo.
Told by the detective he wasn't in trouble, the boy put his head down and said, "I sent it to him," according to the affidavit.
The boy went on to say that just before he started eighth grade at the middle school, he got to know Martinez, who was then a school resource officer, the affidavit says. The boy said students weren't allowed to have cell phones so he would text Martinez to learn if the school would be searching students to see if they had phones.
The two began texting each other regularly, and one day Martinez asked the boy to send him a picture, the affidavit says. When the detective asked the boy what kind of picture, the boy said, "You know."
The boy said he was hesitant but eventually sent Martinez a naked photo of himself, the report says. The detective later learned the messages leading up to the photo were of a sexual nature, the report says.
Cell phones "have revolutionized" child pornography, the affidavit says. "Trading child pornography on the cell phone networks is open and allows trading worldwide."
A judge granted a search warrant the same day the detective spoke with the boy, but documents don't say whether a search was executed and whether police seized any evidence. State police spokesmen were trying to find that information Tuesday evening. The affidavit indicated police were looking for cell phones and evidence of pornography.
Contact Doug Mattson at 986-3087 or dmattson@sfnewmexican.com.
