Police seek evidence in sex crime

Los Lunas man charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor

SANTA FE — Santa Fe police this week took stain samples from the inside of a car owned by a Los Lunas man who earlier this month was arrested and charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor.

According to a search warrant, police were seeking evidence of bodily fluids, trace evidence and an electronic tablet device that may contain pictures of a 12-year-old girl who told a Children Youth and Families Department investigator that she was “dating” the 57-year-old man and twice had intercourse with him, including once in the back seat of his car.

Police took eight stain swabs from the man’s car but the inventory list does not indicate an electronic tablet device was found.

Robert Serrano was charged Oct. 6 after a multisystemic therapist visited the girl’s home early that morning and found the girl asleep on the living room couch wearing only a bra and Serrano sleeping on the floor beside her.

Serrano, who identified himself to the girl’s family as “Pastor Marco,” told police the girl had been performing live shows online and he was there to protect her from being exploited since her mother wouldn’t do anything about it. The girl’s mother, who had been sleeping in a bedroom with the door closed, said “Pastor Marco” was there to keep the girl from running away.

Details from the police report are sketchy but it appears Serrano was already under investigation stemming from an incident last month when he contacted the elementary school the alleged victim attends. Identifying himself as Pastor Marco, he told someone at the school that the girl was being

exploited online but hadn’t contacted law enforcement because he was out of the country running an orphanage.

School officials contacted police and provided them with the caller’s phone number. Police dialed the number and reached Serrano, and that’s when he first told them the girl was doing sex shows online.

Serrano spent 12 days in the Santa Fe County jail, but was released on $25,000 bond Oct. 18. His conditions of release mandate that he stay away from the girl and her family and to wear a GPS tracking device.