Silva waived his right to a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Grand Junction, where he was ordered “detained without bond pending a resolution of his case,” according to Walsh’s press release.
According to the affidavit in support of the Criminal Complaint, a Homeland Security Investigations special agent working in an undercover capacity was chatting on the internet in December, pretending to be the mother of a 4-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old step-daughter, with an “individual [who] indicated his willingness to travel to the United States from Brazil for the purpose of having sexual intercourse with the three females….After multiple chats,” Silva traveled to Grand Junction to meet the agent, “reiterated his desire to engage in sexual intercourse with the undercover persona and the two minor children, and was arrested.
“We have no higher priority than protecting our children from sexual predators,” said Walsh. “This successful investigation has blocked sexual abuse of children and serves as a stern warning to those who engage in sexually explicit conduct with minors.” “This recent predator arrest of a Brazilian traveling to Colorado demonstrates that the sexual exploitation of children is an epidemic crime locally, nationally, and internationally,” said Michael Holt, special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Denver. “Our local HSI agents worked closely with our HSI Attaché Office in Brazil to identify and then arrest this predator suspect.”
Holt oversees a four-state area, which includes Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.
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