A call to Tucson police about a runaway 11-year-old girl prompted a five-month investigation that led to the arrest of several men in a child sex-trafficking case, authorities say.Β
Samuel Noel Talavera, 22, a member of the military, is accused of connecting four Tucson men with the child for sex. The sex acts were to be video taped and sent to Talavera, a Tucson police news release says.
The investigation into the trafficking and sex assaults began in Aug. 2025 when officers responded to a call about a missing 11-year-old girl, police said.
The girl's father told police that he woke up and she was gone, leaving her phone behind. Although she returned the next day, police searched the girl's phone and learned about the her communications with a man who was facilitating meet-ups with a least four other men.
On Dec. 16, Talavera, who is stationed in North Carolina, was extradited to Pima County and booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of child sex trafficking, being an accomplice to sexual conduct with a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor and fraud. Bind was set at $1 million.
Also arrested on suspicion of sexual conduct with a minor were Tucson residents: Ricky Evan Rodriguez, 20; Nathanial Maximus Alvarez, 20; Marcos Rene Lopez-Martinez, 24; and Saul Alejandro Murillo-Morales, 24, police said.
