Alamogordo man pleads guilty to enticement of a minor

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced today that Alfonso Salcido Herrera, Jr. pleaded guilty to the enticement of a minor.  Herrera, 45, of Alamogordo, New Mexico, will remain in custody pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.

According to the plea agreement and other court documents, beginning in 2018 and continuing into 2022, Herrera groomed and sexually abused at least four children who were between nine and 13 years old at the time of the abuse. Herrera showed each of the four minor victims pornography from the Internet on his cell phone in an attempt to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce the minor victims to engage in sexual activity with him.

Herrera faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. Under the terms of his agreement with the government, Herrera can be sentenced to up to 60 years in prison.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated this case with assistance from the Alamogordo Police Department and the 12th Judicial District Attorney's Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Matilda McCarthy Villalobos and Joni Autrey Stahl are prosecuting the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.

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