Army recruiter admits child-sex crime

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A former Army recruiter is headed to prison for more than seven years after crossing a state line for a sexual encounter with what he thought was a 12-year-old girl.

Adrian Gonzales, 26, was based in Midland, Texas, when he was arrested on May 2 in Clovis during an undercover investigation by the Curry County Sheriff's Office.

He pleaded guilty Tuesday to interstate travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case.

Gonzales is the second military recruiter busted under similar circumstances following a separate case involving a National Guardsman based in Lubbock, Texas.

In a plea agreement, Gonzales admitted he initiated a series of e-mail and text exchanges after responding to an online add placed by undercover agents that read, "CUTE/YOUNG IF AGE DOESN'T MATTER HIT ME UP."

The notes became sexually explicit, and when Gonzales said he was heading to Clovis to have sex with the girl, the sheriff's investigators gave him an address and arrested him when he arrived, federal prosecutors said.

Gonzales faces a sentence of 87-108 months in prison to be followed by supervised release and registration as a sex offender.

The case was part of the national Project Safe Childhood initiative working with the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.  The FBI also joined in the local investigation.