A 22-year-old New Mexico man is in the Uinta County Detention Center on claims that he endangered children and tried to sneak fentanyl into the jail. But Wyoming police first started investigating him over fears he and his colleague were trafficking a 15-year-old girl through the state.
Agustin Johnathan Camargo faces two charges of endangering children, punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines each, plus one count of taking drugs into a jail (up to three years and $3,000) and two misdemeanor drug-possession charges (up to 12 months and $1,000 in fines each).
His case rose to the felony-level Uinta County District Court on Friday.
Shifty, Though
Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Scott Neilson wasn’t far from a Shell gas station off Interstate 80 in Evanston on the evening of Aug. 5, when dispatch asked if someone could respond to a possible human trafficking situation in progress, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case.
A man had called dispatch to say a female teen at the gas station needed help. She was riding away in a white Toyota Camry with a temporary license plate on it, said the caller.
The arrests that followed would take four hours to complete amid various searches, interviews and distractions.
Neilson looped through the area and saw the Camry entering an on-ramp. He followed it down the Interstate, then did a radar check on it once it started pulling away from him. The radar said the car was going 85 mph in the 75 mph zone, so Neilson pulled the vehicle over.
The driver’s New Mexico identification card named him as Agustin Johnathan Camargo, while the front-seat passenger’s Mexican Electoral Card identified him as Roberto Velasquez Mayorga, 52.
The 15-year-old girl gave her name, and Velasquez Mayorga identified a 2-year-old girl in the back seat by name as well, says the document.
The investigation reportedly revealed that Camargo didn’t have a driver’s license because it was suspended or “surrendered,” a term which Neilson didn’t recognize when he did a background inquiry.
The affidavit says Camargo was fidgeting nervously, avoiding eye contact and was shifty in his movements and appearance. He had several crude tattoos which did not appear to have been professionally made, and he had several knives on his person.
Velasquez Mayorga likewise appeared to have “several unprofessional tattoos” and wasn’t as shifty, but was searching the vehicle’s compartments as though searching something in a way that looked aimless, Neilson wrote.
“It did not appear as though he was actually seeing what he was looking into,” wrote the trooper.
All the fidgeting made Neilson nervous. He asked Camargo to chat with him in his trooper car, says the affidavit.
Neilson complied. On the way to the other car, Neilson patted Camargo down and removed the knives from his clothing, the document says.
Furtive Hand Gestures
The affidavit says Camargo admitted to having a warrant from New Mexico on a drug arrest, and that he’d been arrested five years prior on a heroin charge.
Camargo reportedly called Velasquez Mayorga his uncle. He said the two girls were Velasquez Mayorga’s daughters.
Discussions about the trip were also shifty. Camargo reportedly said the four were traveling from New Mexico to Utah, a journey that wouldn’t require them to be near Evanston. The story later changed, when Camargo allegedly said they’d gone to Denver, Colorado, to visit friends and family.
Here Neilson’s account gives some body language details, saying Camargo used “furtive directional convincers” with his hands and swallowed hard at the mention of Denver.
Next, Camargo reportedly said the four were going to Salt Lake City to pick the girls’ mother up since she’d been fired from a cleaning job there.
Getting The Translator
Neilson next spoke with Velasquez Mayorga, who spoke very little English. The latter showed the trooper a photo on his cellphone of his Mexican Electoral Card, which showed his photo and identity, reportedly. He said he was going to Salt Lake City to take his babies to their mom, says the document.
WHP Trooper Austin Bluemel arrived on scene along with a Uinta County Sheriff’s sergeant, and they helped Neilson separate the other three people so the sergeant could interview the girl separately, while Bluemel spoke to Velasquez Mayorga via a translator, the affidavit says.
A records check on Velasquez Mayorga revealed that he had several aliases and several warrants for his arrest and was the subject of a criminally deported aggravated felon case.
A drug-detection dog deployed around the car didn’t detect anything. But Camargo admitted to having a meth pipe in the vehicle, and later admitted to having a “tooter” straw on him. A search revealed these confessions to be true, and also revealed apparent meth residue on some foil and in a glass jar, the affidavit alleges.
Mystery Of The Girl
Meanwhile, the 15-year-old girl kept saying she was in no danger. She also said the four were going to get her mom, the document says.
The vehicle search reportedly revealed diapers, baby clothing and other necessities for the 2-year-old, but nothing indicating a 15-year-old girl was along for an extended trip.
Neilson found that “peculiar,” he wrote.
Also odd was the car was registered as having plates but reportedly displayed an expired temporary license plate issued to a 2019 Kia Optima.
Neilson thought the wrong-plate tactic was to throw off license plate readers throughout the country.
Authorities worked to get a safe place for the girl to stay. Neilson asked Camargo how he could reach the girl’s mother, whom he’d said was in Salt Lake City.
The girl’s mother was actually in New Mexico, Camargo reportedly answered.
Perplexed, Neilson asked why they were in the area if the girl’s mother was in New Mexico all along. Camargo said he “had no clue,” the affidavit says.
Neilson circled back to the girl and pleaded with her to tell the truth.
She said she wasn’t on the trip against her will. They were going to see a friend, and she’d gone on the trip with her mother’s permission. The two men weren’t related to her, but were friends with her parents, the girl reportedly added.
The toddler was Velasquez Mayorga’s daughter, said the girl.
Neilson couldn’t shake his fears that the men were trading the girl as a sex commodity, based on their criminal history involving multiple arrests for dealing and having drugs, he wrote.
The girl reportedly said her dad didn’t have a phone and was out of minutes. Neilson managed to get the girl in touch with her sister, who was reportedly very worried about her.
Money Vanished
During all of this, Velasquez Mayorga’s wallet went missing.
Troopers found it about 10 feet away from the car off in the weeds. But $700 cash that Velasquez Mayorga had had in the wallet, which he’d shown agents prior, was now gone, the affidavit says.
Velasquez Mayorga accused police of stealing from him.
Neilson had one of the agents scour his camera footage of the traffic stop, but they couldn’t figure out what had happened to the money. When they realized the girl had been in a passenger seat with Velasquez Mayorga’s wallet at one point, Neilson confronted her about the money, and she admitted to hiding the $700 in her shoe.
Troopers put the money back in Velasquez Mayorga’s wallet.
Fentanyl Pill
Bluemel took the girls to meet with a Wyoming Department of Family Services worker.
Neilson took the two men to the Uinta County Detention Center. He warned them that it’s a felony to sneak drugs into a jail in Wyoming.
Camargo confessed to having the “tooter” pipe in his pocket and handed it over, reportedly. Later while a jail deputy was searching Camargo, a blue pill — apparently fentanyl – fell out of his pocket, says the document.
At first Camargo said the pants were not his, but then said he’d forgotten the pill was in his pocket, the affidavit says.
Ongoing
Camargo’s case is ongoing.
Cowboy State Daily was unable to get details on Velasquez Mayorga’s case by publication time. However, he is listed as being detained in the Uinta County Detention Center, as is Camargo.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
