New Mexico’s top prosecutor has charged three men for using Meta’s social media platforms to target and solicit sex with underage children. The arrests followed a monthslong undercover operation by the state Department of Justice, where the suspects connected with decoy accounts set up by the department. This investigation began in December, around the time the state filed a civil lawsuit against Meta, alleging that it failed to take basic precautions to ensure the safety of children on its platforms. Attorney General Raúl Torrez expressed his concern over how easily these individuals found the undercover personas and blamed Meta executives for putting profits above the interests of parents and children.
During a news conference, Torrez highlighted the suspects’ communication and exchange of explicit sexual content through Facebook’s messenger app, emphasizing their clear sexual interest in children. He criticized Meta executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, for their failure to prevent such behavior on their platforms. Meta disputed these allegations, stating that they use technology to prevent suspicious adults from interacting with children and work with law enforcement to investigate and prosecute offenders. The company also claimed to have hired child safety experts, reports content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and shares information and tools to help root out predators.
As part of the civil litigation against Meta, New Mexico prosecutors revealed internal documents where Meta employees estimated that about 100,000 children experience sexual harassment on the company’s platforms each day. The three defendants in the criminal case, Fernando Clyde, Marlon Kellywood, and Christopher Reynolds, have been accused of child solicitation by an electronic communication device. Prosecutors are seeking to detain them pending trial, though hearings have not yet been scheduled, and attorneys for Clyde and Kellywood have not been listed in court records. The public defender’s office is representing Reynolds.
Meta reiterated its commitment to child safety and its efforts to prevent predators from targeting children on its platforms. Despite the ongoing fight against determined criminals who seek to evade protections, the company remains dedicated to working with law enforcement to address issues related to child safety. While the state attorney general’s office continues its work to identify predators targeting children, it remains unclear whether this will impact the civil litigation against Meta. Torrez emphasized the seriousness of these threats against children and called for greater vigilance and accountability from tech companies to ensure the safety of young users on social media platforms.
