Albuquerque –
In January of 2025, ABQ RAW posted a video of three women in scantily clad attire walking up and down Central Ave., during below-freezing weather. The video went viral and led to the Albuquerque Police Department getting tips about one of the women being an underage missing child from California. The mother saw our video and called APD.
A day later, APD set up a plan to take two pimps into custody and save the underage girls from sex trafficking. APD uniformed officers and sex crime detectives took a pair, a male and female, into custody at a local hotel located off of Central and Tramway. Tajahnae Maryann Johnson and Roderick Norseweather were at the time arrested by APD and charged by the Bernalillo County District Attorney with two counts of Human Trafficking (victims under 16).
In February 2025, the then-U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Alexander M.M. Uballez brought federal charges against both Norseweather and Johnson.
Today, March 19th, 2026, Roderick Norseweather Jr., a 26-year-old California man with connections to Albuquerque pleaded guilty in federal court to sex trafficking two minors and transporting them to New Mexico for commercial sex acts. Additionally, a second defendant pleaded guilty to concealing the offense.
According to court documents, in December 2024, Norseweather Jr., recruited two minors in California. He then transported, provided for, and maintained them for the sole purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts. Norseweather purchased cell phones for the minors and compelled them to use the Life360 app, an application designed to monitor family members, so he could track their locations.
Additionally, he established a coded emoji system to monitor their commercial sex activity. Furthermore, he rented hotel and motel rooms and paid for food, clothing, and other services to keep them engaged in commercial sex for his personal gain.
On December 29, 2024, Norseweather sent the two minors and Tajahne Johnson, 22, by Amtrak from California to New Mexico. The purpose was to set up shop along Central Ave. and get clients to engage in sexual acts in another state. Johnson was aware of the plan and engaged in commercial sex with minors in Albuquerque.
From December 30, 2024, to January 3, 2025, Norseweather directed minors to engage in commercial sex through text messages and Instagram. He also posted advertisements for their commercial sex acts online using their photos and arranged meetings with buyers. Later, he traveled to Albuquerque to collect over $3000 in proceeds from their commercial sex acts. The minors in this case were under the age of 16.
Court documents show that after law enforcement made contact on January 3, 2025, Johnson texted Jane Doe 2 not to come to the area and lied to law enforcement about the minors’ relationship to Norseweather in order to conceal his involvement.
Johnson pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony and is currently in custody awaiting sentencing. She has agreed to serve a three-year prison sentence.
Norseweather pleaded guilty to two counts of sex trafficking of children and two counts of transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. He will remain in custody until sentencing, during which he faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Justin A. Garris, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office, made the announcement today. The initial charges in federal court were brought forth by then-U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez.
The FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office and Albuquerque Police Department investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Trembley and Patrick E. Cordova are prosecuting the case.
You can read Johnson’s plea agreement here: https://justice.gov/usao-nm/media/1431996/dl?inline
You can read Norseweather’s plea agreement here: https://justice.gov/usao-nm/media/1432001/dl?inline
Discover more from ABQ RAW
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
[…] In January of 2025, ABQ RAW posted a video of three women in scantily clad attire walking up and down Central Avenue in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during below-freezing weather. The video went viral and led to the Albuquerque Police Department (“APD”) getting tips about one of the women being an underage missing child from California. The woman’s mother saw the video and called APD. More Here […]