ALBUQUERQUE –
On January 2nd, 2025, we featured a video on our social media and website of scantily clad women barely clothed and walking on Central Ave. The video went viral and many comments questioned if there was an element of sex trafficking.
Today, the Albuquerque Police Department have arrested two individuals for Human Trafficking of minors under the age of 16.
Tajahnae Maryann Johnson, 21, and Roderick Norseweather, 25, have each been charged with two counts of Human Trafficking (victims under 16).
On January 3, 2025, detectives with the High Risk Victim Unit were notified by field officers that a 14 year-old girl who’d been reported missing, was soliciting sex in the area of Central and Rhode Island.
The minor agreed to speak with detectives who told them she began doing sex work in September of 2024 while she was in California. The sex life began after a man named Roderick picked her up for a date. She said he told her he was now her pimp, and that she now worked for him. The minor also said he introduced her to two other females one of them was also a minor.
The minor stated that Roderick threatened to have her beaten up, or kill her if she didn’t give him all the money she made or if she tried to escape. Detectives learned that Roderick recently sent the minors and Johnson on an Amtrack train to Albuquerque to conduct sex work.
Both Johnson and Norseweather were arrested this afternoon and are currently being booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center.
APD is working with the New Mexico Department of Justice for prosecution on this case. There is also a possibility this case will go to the federal courts because the minors were transported over state lines.
An APD public information office confirmed our video did show at least two of the victims that were rescued today. We are glad these young girls were rescued by APD and will be reuinited with families.
I certainly hope the judge assigned to this case has daughters of his/her own and once found guilty, are punished to the fullest extent of the law. These lousy scumbags take advantage of lost kids thru manipulation and threats, who have nowhere to turn and exploit them to the fullest for their profit.
Sick twisted people who hurt keep ds. And the persons who solicit and pay for these young girls are just as/or more sick perverted deviants!! Lock them up for life!
Thank you for posting the videos! I’m glad the girls were rescued and the pimps held accountable. I hope. You never know in Albuquerque.
Thank you ABQ Raw for reporting on this & exposing this trafficking ring. Without you, APD may not have investigated & these young people might not have been rescued.
What do you mean thanks to ABQ RAW!?
What about thanks to the cops who confronted them for possible prostitute on central? LoL it was their work that got this addressed not ABQ RAW!
I mean I’m all for ABQ RAW for the most part but this has nothing to do with them. Also what about the people who brought it to ABQ RAW’s attention? It’s not like ABQ RAW was actively patrolling the streets. LoL
APD wouldn’t have done anything if ABQRaw hadn’t blasted the issue on social media and you know that it too.
Shocking, now way- not New Mexico. If you kidnap, and force, why isn’t it called slavery!? Make the dems upset, or people might find out, slavery still exists in Africa and Middle East. Even people who escaped from slavery are not allowed to call it slavery, why?
I’m glad they were able to get and save the underage girls however I find it hard to believe that these girls in this current video that surfaced are underage.
You should remove the original post/picture of these juvenile victims IMMEDIATELY. They have the right to privacy and to be treated with dignity.
@HW
Just to be clear a person’s “right” to privacy doesn’t exist when you are out in broad daylight on a public street juvenile or adult. What about the non-juvenile people in the photo?
I came here to say the same thing
Either way, because of the girls age, and the nature of her being taken advantage of and what (little she was wearing) the video should be blurred.. a minor at that had no say if she wanted to be in those streets. You sound creepy defending and trying to keep their faces uncovered.. please seek help
@dave
Wow how’s the weather up there on that high moral horse your riding? Why are you so fixated on what they are or aren’t wearing? Honestly I hadn’t paid attention to what they are or aren’t wearing. What I noticed was in the story how the one was already actively engaging (allegedly) in prostitution before she got involved with the one guy. In fact he was her John. Why aren’t you up in arms about where her parents were during that time? Or how minors were able to board a Amtrak train without any kind of screening that would have potentially caught them? Or what about the police in California not catching this? Why are you and that other person so focused on the outfits and privacy concerns when all these red flags were missed? Do you expect privacy when you are out walking down the public street in broad daylight? It’s not as if ABQ RAW was peeping through a window or over a fence. These people are footing down central! I mean Christ stop acting so high and mighty with your misguided moral compass. Focus that energy on what’s really important like I said how were these red flags missed!? I wish those outfits and the lack of privacy (on a public street during broad daylight) was the biggest deal here but it’s not. Frankly who cares what they were wearing. Who knows if they had not been dressed like that would they have even been noticed and or rescued? Maybe we should be thankful they were wearing whatever it is they were wearing. That could have been what saved them! Hiding things in the blur world doesn’t change the fact that these things are happening. I mean maybe we need to do a lil more public shaming? Maybe let’s turn your misguided outfit and privacy focus to more productive things. Like looking for the red flags.
What a load of self-righteous argle-bargle. You forgot to mention the coral reefs are also in peril . . .
Amtrak*
My daughter says it’s like a thing nowadays for a lot of them! She says it’s on social media! I
@Dave, Bravo .
@Joe, VICTIMS of crime have legal rights, which is what I was referring to. Additionally, they are minors and have additional protections afforded to them, esp regarding their identification in publication. Broadcasting their faces, bodies, and their victimization is distasteful and in poor judgement for any media platform, especially after obtaining knowledge they are minor and admitting so in publication…
I agree with Dave, arguing against this is unfortunate, and frankly, disturbing. This mentality is harmful to our unprotected youth and sex workers alike. It’s easy to respond unintelligently when there is no repercussions to your behavior, nor to your identity or social reputation, however, I would also recommend the same as Dave did and encourage you additionally to educate yourself on human trafficking.
@HW
Again you for whatever the reason are focused on the wrong aspect of this story. At no point have you said anything about the big picture here. That being how did these “minors” fall through the cracks? How did the system fail them in the first place? Instead you and the other individual want to focus on ABQ RAW needing to blur faces. I think part of it is your basing your comments and emotions as opposed to facts. Which I can understand emotions however doesn’t make it fact. You want to rush out and save these people from the shame and indignity of being filmed or photographed. That’s very noble of you right? However what crime has anyone been convicted of that would show that these people were in fact a victim? Even ABQ RAW put up the disclaimer that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. You all have apparently gathered all the evidence sat a judge and jury had a fair trial and convicted people. Oh wait that’s not how it actually works. The court of public opinion stands for nothing! Maybe your unaware of how easy it is to be charged with a crime but much harder to be convicted of said charges. Not to mention the vast majority of charges get reduced for various reasons. One of those various reasons is lack of credible evidence. Because again to charge someone requires far less.
Now however with that said is it more likely than not those guys are guilty of these things probably. But that’s what makes our country so good we don’t convict people on the basis of probably.
Now as for learning the rules around minors being filmed and or trafficked I will again point to the FACT that no one has been convicted of anything yet. Also your glossing over what was reported about the girl allegedly already engaging in prostitution long before she supposedly got trafficed out here to NM. I will point out again why are you not talking about that? Is it again because of emotions getting the better of you again? That you again want to just rush out and protect the victim? I’m glad that for the most part are justice system doesn’t work off of emotions. So I suggest maybe you go try to learn a lil something about the laws and rules around being charged with something compared to being convicted of that something. Also maybe you all should go talk to someone to help get your emotions in check. Because it’s pretty obvious your emotions dictate/run your life.
Well well well, isn’t it ironic that a bunch of oppressed pavement apes with their fish lips and saggin pants are participating in modern slavery. They need to be tried by the feds and given the most extreme penalty possible. These black pieces of shit deserve the death penalty, but at a minimum these black mother fuckers need to be with their hero puff daddy sucking his cock and taking it up the ass in prison!