Child exploitation sting nets arrests

4 accused of going to hotel for sex with 15-year-old

Four people are facing charges following an undercover sting operation that the Hartford Police Department conducted to “target and combat child exploitation,” police said.

Lt. Aaron Boisvert said Saturday that the department’s Special Investigations Division conducted the operation Friday at an undisclosed location with help from the Major Crimes Division, Southeast and Northeast Community Service Officers, and the FBI Crimes Against Children/human Trafficking Task Force.

The operation was located at an undisclosed hotel within the city of Hartford, he said.

Boisvert said the operation included that law enforcement personnel who were undercover “assumed the identity of a fifteen-year-old girl’s aunt on the internet and engaged in dialogue with the subjects.”

“During the online discussions, individuals reached agreements to engage in monetary transactions in exchange for sexual relations with an underage female,” Boisvert said in an email. “The subjects verified their arrival at the location and were then provided with a specific room number by detectives.”

The four people went to the hotel room and “were greeted by an undercover detective, posing as a juvenile,” Boisvert said. “The targets were then quickly placed into custody by an arrest team.”

The four individuals were taken into custody and were brought to the Special Investigations Division for debriefing, Boisvert said.

Jonathan Almonte, 32, of 147 Fairfield Ave., Hartford; Aqib Bakawala, also 32, of 400 N. Main St., Manchester; Angel Rodriguez, 29, of 70 Redfield Ave., East Haven; and Michael Huang, 35, of 198 Grand St., New York City, are each charged with criminal attempt/illegal sexual contact with a minor under 16, second-degree criminal attempt/sexual assault, and criminal attempt/commercial sexual abuse of a minor, Boisvert said.