Message led to discovery of 11 kids in New Mexico compound
TAOS, N.M. — A message that people were starving, believed to come from inside a compound in northern New Mexico, led to the discovery of 11 children in filthy conditions.
Taos County Sheriff’s officials said Saturday the children were removed from the compound in Amalia — an isolated area near the New Mexico-Colorado border. They were then turned over to state child-welfare workers.
Two men were arrested during the search. Siraj Wahhaj was detained on an outstanding warrant. Lucas Morten was jailed on suspicion of harboring a fugitive, Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said.
A 3-year-old boy, Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, reported missing from Georgia since December 2017, was not among the children.
Three women, believed to be the mothers of the children, were detained and later released.
“The children are in our custody and our number one priority right now is their health and safety,” New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department Secretary Monique Jacobsons said in a statement.
The search at the compound came amid a twomonth investigation in collaboration with Clayton County, Ga., authorities and the FBI.
Sheriff Hogrefe said FBI agents surveilled the area weeks ago but didn’t find probable cause to search the property. (The federal agency could not be reached for comment on Sunday.)
That changed when Georgia detectives forwarded a message to Sheriff Hogrefe’s office, saying: “We are starving and need food and water.”
The sheriff said there was reason to believe the message came from someone inside the compound.
“I absolutely knew that we couldn’t wait on another agency to step up and we had to go check this out as soon as possible, so I began working on a search warrant,” Sheriff Hogrefe said. “The occupants were most likely heavily armed and considered extremist of the Muslim belief.”
Authorities found what Sheriff Hogrefe called “the saddest living conditions” he has ever seen on the job.
Other than potatoes and a box of rice, there was little food in the compound, which Sheriff Hogrefe said consisted of a travel trailer buried in the ground and covered by plastic. There was no water or electricity, he said.
A tactical team was assembled Friday morning and slowly advanced into the facility, he wrote. No one was injured, according to the sheriff’s office.