Two days ago, news broke that former UFC lightweight Abel Trujillo had been arrested on some truly disturbing charges.
A report surfaced that Trujillo had been arrested in Broward County, Florida, and extradited to Colorado. He was being held on charges of felony sexual exploitation of a child and felony obscenity in Castle Rock, Colorado. The charges themselves were bad enough. But the alleged details that have surfaced today are truly horrible.
Of course, these are just allegations as of right now and Trujillo is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Based on an arrest affidavit chronicled by MMA Junkie, Trujillo friended a 16-year-old girl on social media networks Instagram and Snapchat in March 2018. He allegedly sent videos of him masturbating to the girl along with photos of his exposed genitalia.
Welcomed At First
The girl told a Castle Rock Police investigator that she at first agreed to Trujillo’s behavior. She said this was due to him being a somewhat well-known professional athlete. When he began talking about sex and sending increasingly lewd messages, she grew uncomfortable. The girl involved told police that she blocked Trujillo after several requests to stop the disturbing behavior.
Several months later, he allegedly began sending more elicit photographs. Having had enough, the alleged victim finally contacted the police. She told police that he allegedly knew she was a high school student throughout all of his attempts at sexual contact.
Castle Rock Police later procured multiple graphic images through emails. The investigator obtained the alleged victim’s phone from her mother. Due to the fact Snapchat deletes messages automatically, the investigator was unable to find sufficient evidence on the app. So Trujillos’ alleged victim then sent him several text messages reminding him she was underage, to which he said he didn’t know her age. But he allegedly soon sent her another lewd photo on Snapchat.
Investigation Advances
That was when law enforcement was able to get Trujillo’s Snapchat and IG login information. They used it to trace his messages back to him in Thornton, Colo. Snapchat declined to provide past messages from his account, however.
But ultimately, police were able to obtain a search warrant to enter Trujillo’s apartment. They did so on January 19, 2019. According to the police affidavit, Trujillo admitted to “multiple conversations with females under the age of 18.” He also said he knew the alleged victim of this case was underage and that he requested nude photos from her. Finally, he acknowledged sending her the photos of his genitalia.
His phone was seized when police enacted their search warrant. There, multiple photos of naked young women were found. Police matched those photos to several he sent the alleged victim.
Trujillo posted $10,000 bail this Wednesday. He had been detained at Douglas County jail since June 16. In a twist, a presiding judge ruled his charges were not eligible before Trujillo was due in court for a preliminary hearing today. The case was then sent to district court without a preliminary hearing. The former UFC fighter has an arraignment set for September 6. There, he can enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
Trujillo was last seen in the UFC in late 2017.
