Artesia woman charged with prostituting child family member to boyfriend
An Artesia woman faced child prostitution charges after a female child family member told police the woman accepted payments from her boyfriend to repeatedly sexually assault the girl about four years ago.
Karyn Estrada, 50, was arrested Monday and charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children by prostitution, a first-degree felony, and conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of children by prostitution, entering no plea in Artesia Magistrate Court.
The abuse was believed to go on between November 2018 and May 2019 at the home of the assailant, court records show, when the girl was 10 and 11.
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Records show the girl, now 14, told investigators Jan. 5. that during the assaults, Estrada received payments from her then-boyfriend Kevin Clements to allow the assaults to occur.
Clements was arrested in 2020, records show, and charged with two counts of criminal sexual penetration in the first degree of a child younger than 13, along with kidnapping and assault charges.
He was bound over from Artesia Magistrate Court to Fifth Judicial District Court and faces a jury trial Feb. 13, with no plea yet entered, records show.
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Police said the survivor of the attacks came forward to investigators, testifying Clements would give Estrada money before or after the assaults, after negotiating sums of up to $500, read the criminal complaint.
The girl told police the assaults started when Clements allegedly attempt to assault another relative of the survivor, but she interfered.
She said Estrada was aware of the assaults and did nothing, police said, and that she witnessed Estrada and Clements exchanging money after the attacks.
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Estrada was released from custody on a $100,000 bond during court proceedings and banned from having contact with the survivor or anyone younger than 18.
The attacks occurred “a few times a month,” according to the girl's testimony to police, for about six months, and she said Estrada and Clements “would talk about money” after every incident.
Clements threatened the girl with a knife to comply during the assaults, the girl told police, and allegedly said he would kill her.
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Police said the survivor testified the attacks stopped after she ran away from home.
She was first interviewed in January 2020 at the Artesia Advocate Center.
Records show the girl said the attacks were at Clements’ house at the Poderosa Trailer Park in the 3200 block of West Main Street in Artesia, where Clements served as manager and lived onsite.
She said during the attacks he would restrain her with duct tape and rope, threatening her with a knife and a gun in various incidents, records show.
According to the girl’s initial testimony, Estrada was asleep during the incidents.
After she ran away in May 2019, temporary custody of the girl was granted to her parents, who urged the survivor to come forward to police about the attacks and later about the payments, the girl said according to court records.
The parents also reported the incidents to the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office in 2020, records show.
Another witness, James Burchett of Artesia was also interviewed by detectives, records show, testifying Clements admitted to having relations with the girl and told Burchett “These young girls look 10 years older than they are,” records show.
Clements denied the allegations and any sexual contact with the girl.
He was held in pretrial detention while awaiting trial.
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Artesia woman accused of prostituting child to boyfriend
