Adrian Cruz arrested for soliciting underage boy
As another recent sex trafficking sting conducted by local police shows prostitution is an ongoing issue in Cheyenne, and it appears to have gone unaddressed for decades.
Local police officer Sandburg said most people think of Cheyenne as being a nice, quiet community, and yet openly on the streets of downtown, he and law enforcement we were seeing lots of criminal activity take place.
"It really was a much bigger problem than I think most of us, even though we're in law enforcement, anticipated it would be," he said.
Rescuing victims
While neither of the stings this year uncovered sex trafficking of children or adults, one man was arrested in the July sting and charged with conspiring to sexually exploit a child and soliciting a child with the intent of committing first-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
Adrian Cruz, 28, of Cheyenne, initially was not identified by police because he was accused of soliciting sex with a juvenile boy. His was the only arrest made during the sting that involved proposed sex with a minor.
Court documents filed against Cruz on July 28 accuse him of offering to pay an undercover agent $150 to have sex with a fictitious 12-year-old boy described in an online advertisement as "young and eager."
He waived his preliminary hearing in Laramie County Circuit Court, pleaded not guilty at his August arraignment in Laramie County District Court and is awaiting trial.
"I was surprised by the dialog, the texting, the online traffic (here) where there's a desire to have sex with a minor."
Mr. Adrian Cruz shows prior arrests for burglary in the Cheyenne area after stealing garage door openers out of victims cars in order to gain access to residences to burglarize.
After his release, Cruz has moved into investment and tax fraud under the name House Buyers of Cheyenne which has landed in legal hot water after investigators uncovered fraudulent accounting statements.
"Everything that was tied to Adrian was tainted with some sort of fraud, some sort of lies"
