Southwest Key employee arrested on suspicion of luring minor for sex
A Southwest Key employee whose job it was to organize social activities for unaccompanied immigrant children was arrested on suspicion of attempting to lure what he thought was a 14-yearold boy for sex online, according to Maricopa County court documents.
The person he was communicating with was was actually an undercover police detective, according to the documents, which include a probable cause statement submitted after his arrest.
Documents claim 30-year-old Jose Rojas-Minjares texted with the undercover officer on an online dating website, stating he wanted to kiss the underage boy and teach him how to have sex.
Tempe police arrested Rojas-Minjares on Friday evening near the intersection of Rural and Broadway roads, where he had agreed to meet with the boy according to court documents.
Rojas-Minjares told police he was meeting with a 21-year-old and misread the age because he didn’t understand English well. He also admitted to discussing kissing and sex with the underage boy, but wouldn’t have done so before getting to know him better, arrest records say.
Police noted that Rojas-Minjares wrote and spoke English well during their online and in-person conversations. His case information and rights were explained to him in Spanish during his initial court appearance.
Court documents list Rojas-Minjares as an employee of Southwest Key, a Texas-based non-profit organization that has attracted controversy for following the Trump Administration’s policy of separating and housing migrant children away from their families. Southwest Key operates facilities in Arizona.
Documents state Rojas-Minjares organized social activities for children between the ages of 2 and 10 years old, though he told police he never abused children and no one had alleged so either, documents state. The documents say he worked in the Phoenix area but did not specify the location.
Neil Nowlin, vice president of communications for Southwest Key, told The Arizona Republic that Rojas-Minjares was suspended without pay pending “review for termination” and that he passed all state and federal background check prior to his hiring.
“This employee was only with us for two weeks and these allegations do not relate to his work with us or anyone in our facility,” Nowlin said in a written statement. “However, we are working to immediately confirm no child was harmed by him in any way during the two weeks he was an employee.”
Rojas-Minjares was booked into a Tempe city jail on one count of sexual conduct with a minor and luring a minor for sexual exploitation and was being held on $15,000 bond, according to court documents.
His next scheduled court appearance is July 5 in Maricopa County Superior Court.