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According to an affidavit from a Fairfax County detective, the investigation began last year, when a 17-year-old high school student approached local police to say friends of hers had been paid to have sex with a man in his 40s. She said one friend was given $1,000 and a handbag; another a camera and marijuana.
Police say they eventually identified Erasquin through cellphone, credit card, Uber and PayPal records showing he had communicated with the girls, sent them cash and bought them first-class plane tickets, expensive cameras and luxury handbags. Victims later told police he also gave them illegal drugs.
Prosecutors say Erasquin met one victim on SeekingArrangements.com, a website geared toward wealthier older men looking for younger partners who need financial help. Others were the student’s friends or met him on Tinder, where he pretended to be 18, according to the affidavit.
While some victims falsely told him they were 18, according to the affidavit, when one told him the truth, she said he “indicated … that he kind of knew their ages the entire time and liked it.” One 16-year-old told police it was “obvious” she and a friend who met Erasquin were not adults. He would pick up or drop off victims at school, prosecutors said.
One girl alleges that she passed out after taking a hit of marijuana at Erasquin’s Arlington apartment, then woke up with no clothes on. Another who had moved across the country said Erasquin bought her a plane ticket home but threatened to cancel her return flight when she did not come see him.
When two victims threatened to go to the police if he did not pay them more money, according to the court record, he said he would sue them and that extortion was a more serious crime than having sex with a minor.
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