Former Pecos coach pleads guilty to coercion and enticement of minors

A former Pecos High School assistant boys basketball coach pleaded guilty in federal court to coercion and enticement to minors.

Federal prosecutor Alexander M.M. Uballez announced that Joshua Rico, 26, of Pecos pleaded guilty on Dec. 22 to five counts of those charges, according to a news release last week from the FBI.

Rico will remain in custody pending his sentencing, which has not been scheduled.

Beginning as early as January 2018, Rico used profiles on the social media platform Snapchat to coerce minor girls into sending him sexually explicit photos and videos and engage in sexual acts.

Rico used fictitious profiles under the names “Chris Lujan” and “Erik Romero” as well as a profile in his name to threaten, coerce and manipulate at least four victims who were between 14 and 16 years old.

In each case, Rico used one or both of his fake profiles to persuade the victims into sending compromising photos, then used the threat of exposing the photos to coerce the victims into engaging in sexual acts and sending him videos of the acts.

In two cases, after using a fake profile to demand the victims engage in sexual acts and provide videos, he offered to “help” the victims by allowing them to perform the sexual act with him. Rico coerced at least one of the victims into engaging in sexual acts with him.

Rico faces up to life in prison and will be required to register as a sex offender.

New Mexico State Police, the FBI and the Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory investigated the case as part of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.