Correa was arrested on April 19, 2024, at Miami International Airport as he was preparing to board a flight to Medellín. Nine cell phones were found in his luggage, containing 58 videos and more than 100 photographs of child abuse, as well as explicit conversations with local pimps in which he expressed interest in “virgins.” A search of one of the cell phones also revealed a text message exchange with a sex trafficker in Colombia, who Correa agreed to pay $300,000 Colombian pesos (the equivalent of $75 USD) to arrange for commercial sex with children who were 10 to 12 years old.

The evidence was gathered through an investigation led by the Transnational Homeland Security Investigations Group (TCIU – SIJIN DIPRO), the Attorney General’s Office, HSI, and with support from the Mayor’s Office of Medellín through Operation Hunter.

“This sexual predator will face a long prison sentence in his country for crimes committed in Medellín. The sentence is the result of Operation Hunter, an example of what can be achieved with intelligence, international cooperation, and, above all, the determination to combat this crime. This is a historic result, the product of a parallel investigation conducted in both Miami and our city. The capture and conviction of both ends of a criminal network, the sexual offender and the pimp were achieved in both countries. We will not allow Medellín to be seen as a destination for sexual crime,” stated Mayor Federico Gutiérrez.

“Predators such as Correa are a scourge upon humanity, and must be dealt with accordingly.” – US Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne

The investigation also led to the identification of six direct victims in Medellín, who provided valuable testimony during forensic interviews conducted by HSI in Colombia. The minors recounted how Correa, who called himself.
“Cris” offered them money, lodging, clothing, and electronic devices in exchange for sexual acts. Two women who were part of his network, Lina Marcela Velázquez Maldonado and María Camila Cuervo, were also arrested and convicted of pimping and sexual abuse of a child under 14 years of age.

“This conviction is just one step. We are making progress in criminal proceedings against Correa’s accomplices and will continue collaborating to capture all those involved. Our commitment is absolute: to protect our children. Many more arrests are coming, and the investigation continues,” the president stated.

Stefan Correa will be imprisoned in a United States prison. Meanwhile, in Colombia, a mirror investigation is progressing that could lead to new arrests and expand the judicial siege against those who facilitated these crimes. The Mayor’s Office of Medellín reiterates its unwavering commitment to the defense of children, effective international cooperation, and a zero-tolerance policy against the sexual exploitation of children.

“The United States of America will always seek to protect children near and far,” said US Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida. “This prosecution and this sentence should serve as a warning to any predator who is trying to travel through our district to prey on children. We will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. A life sentence for this conduct is entirely appropriate. Predators such as Correa are a scourge upon humanity, and must be dealt with accordingly,”  Hayden added.

“To the brave survivors, your courage was the driving force in this case, and I hope that the life sentence of this predator brings you some measure of justice and relief,” said Jose R. Figueroa, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Miami. “This investigation underscores the global and horrific nature of child sex trafficking and the importance of international cooperation to end it. I thank our federal and Colombian counterparts for their steadfast dedication and reiterate HSI’s continued commitment to holding those who prey on minors fully accountable,” Figueroa continued.

HSI Miami investigated the case with assistance from HSI offices in Cleveland, Ohio, and Bogotá, Colombia, as well as US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).  The Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of the Judicial Attaché in Bogotá, Colombia, also provided critical assistance. Major Crimes Deputy Chief Assistant US Attorney Lauren Astigarraga prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by US Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

To report suspected human trafficking or to obtain resources for victims, please call 1-888-373-7888; text “BeFree” (233733), or live chat at HumanTraffickingHotline.org. The toll-free phone, SMS text lines, and online chat functions are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Help is available in English, Spanish, Creole, or more than 200 additional languages. The National Hotline is not managed by law enforcement, immigration, or an investigative agency. Correspondence with the National Hotline is confidential, and you may request assistance or report a tip anonymously.

To report online child sexual exploitation, visit https://report.cybertip.org/ or call 1-800-843-5678. The Cyber Tip Line is operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in partnership with HSI and other law enforcement agencies.

To learn more about the National Resource Hotline, visit https://www.humantraffickinghotline.org. To learn more about the US Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking, visit www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

Headline video credit: Law & Crime Network YouTube, Featured image credit: City of Medellín.

But we would like to give some more context to the public opinion and to the country, and it’s that this case, of the US citizen Stefan Andres Correa, is related directly to the Timothy Alan case. This capture is a product of the investigation done in an inter-agency manner with the national police and the intelligence and justice agencies of the US government. Remember that approximately 10 days ago, I had a meeting with the ambassador of the United States, Francisco Palmieri, with his whole team. All the intelligence agencies of the US government were there. Regional director of the FBI for the region was there, the HSI directors for the region were there, the directors of all the customs, military and migration agencies; joined as well by our national police led by General Lamprea in said meeting.

See Also: Miami Pharmacist Captured Attempting To Fly To Colombia To Sexually Abuse Minors

The conjoined work between the Municipality of Medellín, the national police and all intelligence and justice agencies of the United States starts to take effect with the capture of Stefan Andres Correa. Part of the discussion was how to stop these people, from the US territory, and with other nationalities too, in other countries, where there is already information that they are involved in the sexual exploitation of children and teenagers, and make it so this network of degenerates can’t even get on a plane from their countries to get here to cause damage. And that is part of the information we have been sharing already with different agencies, and we want to expressly thank our national police; the American government, headed by (Ambassador) Francisco Palmieri; his whole team; the director and the entire HSI team for the region. And I want you and the country to know how we got to Stefan Andres Correa.

A criminal that had already entered our country 45 times, since 2022; how is it possible that a man like this had the capacity to cause so much damage for so many years against our children, and no one ever did anything? Why? Because this was a topic that was kept hidden during the four previous years (the administration of Daniel Quintero), while it grew dramatically. And there is not only irresponsibility and apathy, but also complicity with all these criminals. It was known they were coming into our city and into our country to abuse our children. When they had the responsibility to care for our children, they did nothing, they turned a blind eye and did nothing for our children. And what happened? The phenomenon grew. More and more of these people continued to arrive, who believed they could continue to come into our country and into our city to do whatever they wanted, and that’s how they treated it. Because for a long time, they did whatever they wanted. But their party is over now.

Because we are not going to hide the reality that we have started to fight since the 1st of January, which we have shown, and it is clear to us that it’s continuing to happen, and with a lot of intensity. But we are giving concrete results in the fight against the sexual exploitation of children and teenagers. We are not going to deny the problem. But the world can’t believe either that this only happens in Medellín. It happens in the whole world. The difference is that in Medellín we are already fighting it, and that’s why the eyes are on our city today. And yes, we are going to fight this battle to the end. Because this fight is just beginning.

And how did we get to Stefan Andres Correa? Thanks to our national police, thanks to the intelligence agencies of the US government, and thanks to this conjoined work with the Municipality of Medellín. It’s how the investigators directly, coming from Ohio as well, where Timothy Alan is, fully identified, with a blue notice; will be made to answer to the American and Colombian justice.  While doing the interviews, our national police, our national general prosecutors too, and also the American agents…In the last days, when the victims of Timothy Alan are interviewed, they reach this man’s information, Stefan Andres Correa, who was the one that paid to hire, who paid for the food for the girls, in different parts of the city, to continue to sexually exploit them.

We are not facing isolated cases here. We are facing a human trafficking network with the purpose of sexual exploitation of children and teenagers. And this is not just one more case, it is not an isolated case. It’s a network that has to be dismantled completely. And I want to tell you that thanks to this technical proof, thanks to the work of the police, the prosecutors, and of intelligence agencies of the US government, and justice agencies of several states, where Florida is included, where Cleveland and Ohio are included, what happens precisely is the capture of this criminal that is part of the network.

45 entrances into our country since 2022. You just have to look at the chats of this depraved man, that are sickening as a society. But I also want to make a call to society. Today we are all outraged reading these chats, but I ask, where have we been as a society? Where has society been, rejecting what was already going on, which everyone turned a blind eye to? Authorities turned a blind eye for four years, and they didn’t get involved in an issue that was evident in the streets of our city, and that happened frequently. This man would come not only with his cellphones, but with the cellphones that he had promised the victims as a form of payment. Where, depending on the level of aberration he could reach with our minors, he paid them more or less, or arranged 300,000 pesos plus the cellphones.

What was avoided here thanks to the articulated work we have been doing, with the police, with the prosecutors, with the municipality, and with international agencies of the US government, it’s that the abuse of a minimum of four minors was avoided. But this network has to fall apart completely. And the first thing I want to say is that the investigation is ongoing, and the investigation is really moving forward in an inter-agency manner.

And this is a two-sided investigation, carried out in Colombia and in the United States, where there are Colombian and American citizens. And this hit against this American citizen captured at the Miami Airport is part of an ongoing operation. There are many more people linked to this process, both American and Colombian citizens, people who would also help out here in Colombia, and directly in Medellin; some of them identified, who would help with the recruitment of children. The modus operandi is, once they start recruiting one, recruiting two, they start taking them directly from their homes. They become truant. They fall into so many issues related to addictions, drugs, all the harassment…and they end up being a part of this network. And at the same time, the same girls and boys that are exploited are the ones in charge of, in this dark network, of searching in parks, in different areas of the city, and in educational institutions, making offers to their friends and classmates for them to go with them to those same activities. This has to pain all of us. And this has to horrify us as a society. This is not just another case, this is a case in which we are discussing structural issues. And like we announced on the Timothy case, we are not going to rest, and that is why the American agents have already come to conduct the interviews, and thanks to that, the information on this other pervert is gathered; this Stefan Andres Correa, who is facing a sentence of a minimum of fifteen years in the US, and permanent surveillance for life.

But entrance has already been denied to this one. My message is very clear, I want to tell anyone who wants to come to our country, or any person or any Colombian that wants to come to our city, that they are very welcome, but not welcome to do that. That if they have the intention of jeopardizing our children, we are going to chase them relentlessly. That is a decision we have already made. These are trafficking networks, and do not forget many of them are linked to drug trafficking networks. And here come, within the operations, many forceful legal actions, within the investigations carried out by the police and the prosecution, headed by General Lamprea. Here come harsh topics. Not only are captures coming, but the extinction of domains (civil forfeiture) on those real estate properties that have been used for these human trafficking networks, exploiting our children and teenagers.

I want to send a message. And not only to the authorities; the authorities are already coordinated, and we are working together. I want to give a message to society: This cannot keep happening before all of our eyes. These strange behaviors of people who go looking for children in parks, schools…Someone must have seen something, and for so long nobody has ever said anything. We must be horrified as a society, but so as to take action. To get more reports, so that our police can continue to act. In the last few days, there have been more captures carried out by the police and the prosecution. Unfortunately, as for the case of the Chinese citizen (“David” Zhen Liu), he was set free, but the process continues. And we are not going to rest until we get all the evidence against these depraved people. And I want to make it very clear: Whoever messes with our children is messing with all of us as a society. And the last message is to the heads of the family. Mothers and fathers, where are you? Where are we, as a society? What needed to happen to get us to this point? And I want all of us to look out for our children together, and I want to thank you as media. Because you have spoken up too, because you need to help us a lot with this, because we need everyone to come together.

We came from launching the program ‘Tejiendo Hogares.’ (Sewing homes) Because today, this social decay has an origin, and it is the homes. And it’s time to invest not only in the front facade, but also the one inside. We need to restore the families; we need to restore the values. And let’s not keep the discussion as a country about left, right or center-wings, that’s useless. Ideologies divide, values unite. And, at least in this case, the youth should be the ones to unite us as a society. Let’s fight together. Political and social sectors, we may be different, but that does not contribute anything. We can have different ideas. But this is a battle we all need to fight.

What you have seen, and what society has seen surrounding a few chats, which have been of public knowledge, of these degenerates, like I’ve said, is just the tip of the iceberg. It is sad to see what we have come to as a society. It hurts. That’s why as a municipality and as administration, and like I’ve said, I am fighting this battle with the tools I have as Medellín’s mayor, but with the conviction of a citizen and a family man. And I know that is how my General is doing it too, I know that is how Manuel does it as Secretary of Security, and I know that all of you, who are with us today, from the media, who are also parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, will help us fight that battle. And may those who are listening or watching us, also be convinced that this is a fight for all of us as a society.

I want to thank my General, Lamprea; our national police…Greetings to General Salamanca; to Colonel Cubides, director of DIPRO, who is also at the head of these operations; to the US ambassador, Francisco Palmieri, thank you for the commitment; to all the directors of the intelligence and justice agencies from the United States, which are connected to this inter-agency work. Thank you. With timely and quick action, a lot of abuse against the children of our city was avoided. And this is just the beginning. This is a battle that is just beginning. But do me a favor, let’s not pretend, or let them say, that this only happens in Medellín. No. This happens all over the world. The big difference is that here we hit a nerve and we do not tolerate the sexual exploitation of children and teenagers.

I will give the floor to my General, and, as I’ve said, this has just begun. This is an ongoing operation, there are many people involved, and we are not going to rest. And to anyone, as has already happened with many of these guys, or like the one who was not even able to board the plane, many people who intended or intend to come to Colombia, to our city, Medellín, to do that: know that you cannot come here to do that. And let it be spread all over the world that this is not allowed here, and it is a crime penalized with up to 25 years in prison in Colombia. Go ahead, General.

General Lamprea: Well, thank you so much Mr. Mayor for this recognition to our national police. We are the ones who have been working hand in hand with different international agencies in order to achieve these results. At the same time, in conjunction and with all the support from this administration. I want to refer to this capture of the American citizen that took place in Miami, for sexual exploitation of children and teenagers in the city of Medellín; a result of the institutional strategy of the National Police, which we called “PAIS”, where the protection of safe adolescence and childhood is always a priority. In coordination with, I insist, with the support of the administration and also the different international agencies that support us and with whom we are coordinated to achieve these results.

This is how the investigation of this citizen, of this capture, is carried out. Because in the frame of the investigation that we carry of Timothy Alan, we are getting these results. This investigation is starting to pay off. This is how on the 18th of this month of April, in the frame of ‘Operation Cazador’, as we have named it, at the Miami Airport, the arrest warrant of this forty-two-year-old American citizen was generated, who also has Ecuadorian citizenship. As required by the US justice, for the crimes of attempting to travel with the intention of taking part in illegal sexual activities; that is the offense he is being charged with in this country. In Colombia, he is being investigated as well for the crimes of child pornography and a lawsuit for sexual exploitation of an underage person.

It also became known that he had over 45 migratory entries to Colombia, with the city of Medellín as his destination. This person intended to travel from Miami to Medellín precisely, or directly. At this moment he is requested by the authorities here, where a computer and nine cellphones were found in his possession, which are now part of the chain of custody, and probably from where they collected important evidentiary material. With all of this, the film content, implicit sexual abuse of minors is evidenced. These elements will be provided through judicial assistance too, to our Attorney General’s Office here in Colombia, to identify and protect the victims, and prosecute those responsible. This person took responsibility for the offenses he is being charged with there, in this country,  of which he has been accused of, and he is under security measures in a prison at this moment, there in Miami.

In the Metropolitan Police of El Valle de Aburrá this year, other details of importance: The National police have captured 80 people for sexual crimes, among which there are 49 that have just been registered in Medellín. It’s also important to point out to all of you that amongst those captures we have also registered six American citizens who came for those practices and have been prosecuted too in different activities and operations in the framework of the strategy we have with the Administration, in all the metropolitan area, and specifically in Medellín.

This is how the National Police has this information, it’s important to note that thanks to that joint work, support, and coordination with these inter-agency agencies in the US, and all the support from the Municipality of Medellin, we have achieved these results. The investigations continue. Probably in this two-side investigation, which we have with the North American authorities, we will continue to provide significant results, both in that country and in Colombia. That’s the information we have on this case, thank you.

Federico: Thank you very much, everyone.

Media: Mayor, a little question.

Federico: Unfortunately I have a meeting with Metro with governance…

Media: Just one. What happened with the person he was communicating with? The pimp. (The Colombian woman who was finding and providing the children as prostitutes)

Federico: It’s part of the investigation. As we said, more captures are coming…

Media: And the families?

Federico: It’s been said.

Media: In this case, are you going to look into them?

Federico: It will all be part of the investigation and also of the social work we have been doing from the mayor’s office. Understand that this has a line of reserve. Thanks to the work the Police have been doing, along with the agencies of the US. It’s a very clear line. This is just the beginning. I want you to understand something. We got to this man thanks to the investigation of Timothy Alan. And from there, all that was just discovered, all the information the intelligence and justice agencies of the US share with the police. All that investigation also comes in addition to structural blocks of trafficking networks that were already being analyzed.

Media: Did he know Timothy? Did they have any…?

Federico: They had the contact already, it was through…

Media: Was it the same one?

Federico: The contact comes thanks to the forensic interviews that the police, the prosecution, and the international agencies do. Keep this in mind. I have already said it all, I will simply explain it a bit here. Remember this guy lives in Ohio. Timothy. There is something that’s called extraterritorial offenses, which is what my general was talking about when finishing the press conference. Those extraterritorial offenses…It does not matter where the crime is committed, even if it is outside the American territory. If they commit a crime for purposes of the sexual exploitation of children and teenagers, they will be held accountable to the same legislation. To get the evidence against Timothy in this two-sided investigation my General mentioned, and the evidence Colombia has… It was necessary for the investigators in Ohio to come here, to Medellín, for the interviews with the girls. That was already done, we were with them already. We have been putting all of that together; everything has been done directly with the ambassador, with the FBI director for the region, Homeland Security, HSI, ICE Agency, INL…which one am I missing? Customs. Look, this is the first time…I say this from experience, with many of you who I got to be with…When we were together at the municipality. We were in a fight against all those drug traffickers alongside the (US) Embassy.

Not even then there was as much articulation as now. When we were in a meeting with the ambassador and General, there was not a single agency absent at that table. And they were the coordinators not only for Colombia, but for the whole region. I mean…This has just begun. Keep that in mind. This is a network that will start to fall apart. There are American citizens, there are citizens of other nationalities, there are Colombians who have lent themselves to this. And what we need to protect the most is having a very clear identity of the children, because in the videos, as my General said, there is explicit content of sexual abuse against them, and we need to identify these children very carefully in order to establish their rights. So this has just begun. What we wanted to make very clear is where this is headed and where it starts from. Remember one of the strategies with the US government is to ask for all the databases they have on pimps, pedophiles, people who sexually abuse, so they can’t even get on a plane from there. That they can’t get on it is already part of the result of the request. This…Understand my General has to maintain some reservations about that too.

Media: The General cannot say on camera all that about the interviews they came to conduct here and how they found Timothy?

Federico: No, I have already said so. I have already explained. I have explained it fully. Look what is in there. What I am saying is, and all I have said and want you to understand, is that this is going to be part of a structural thing: everything’s there. I said it. How we moved things forward, how we worked together with American agencies, but directly coordinated with the Police, with my General. How the tracking and the interviews conducted by the police and the prosecution start, and the justice and the investigators who come from Ohio. They interview the children and that is why we were able to get to this guy. The one they captured in Miami.

Media: Did the other guys have any relation to any structures in Medellín, would they be sponsored…?

Federico: Let that be continued in the investigation. Let that continue, because all sorts of things are coming. But yes, there is a relation with people who have lent themselves to this. In many areas of the city. The pimps.

Media: Mayor, do you know what this guy did in the US? For work?

Federico: I don’t know if you want to answer anything else, I think that’s everything…

Lamprea: Yes, well, let’s say, contextualizing a little bit what the Mayor was saying, it is important to to point out too that as a result of all that was done: the prevention part, control, dissuasion, the investigative part; all this coordination we have done. Even what we did a few days ago with the Mayor at the Rionegro airport. A preventive strategy was launched there. There we are joined by INTERPOL. We are there with them, and working alongside Migración Colombia, where they are already managing a series of databases to start not only identifying them since they leave from different countries, but also when they get here, to Colombia, and precisely to Medellín. This person’s profile…He’s a pharmacist that was there and worked at that directly in the US. Well, that’s as far as the context of the investigation. I do not know any precise details at the moment, because that part is for the investigators, and what we have just said is what we can say, in accordance with what the head investigators have expressed. That is it.

Media: By the way, General, or Mayor; have the American investigators found the location, have they found Timothy Alan in Ohio? Because in an interview on Univision, the family was saying they did not know this North American’s whereabouts.

Lamprea: What we know so far is that he has already been identified, they already know where he is and he is already taking part in this investigation. They are doing the various controls to this person.

Federico: Thank you very much everyone.

According to the criminal complaint and the underlying affidavit, law enforcement officers stopped Stefan Andres Correa, 42, of Miami, Florida, attempting to board a flight from Miami to Bogota, Colombia. It is alleged that, law enforcement officers discovered nine cellular phones in Correa’s possession containing videos of Correa engaging in intercourse with purported minor children, as well as a chat exchange with a suspected sex trafficker, where Correa allegedly paid for commercial sex with children aged between 10 to 12 years old in Colombia. According to the allegations, during the chat exchange, Correa agreed with the suspected sex trafficker to meet with the minor victims once he arrived in Colombia.

This document is reprinted from the US Attorney’s Office. We will update this story as more information becomes available.

Correa made his initial appearance on April 19. A detention hearing is scheduled for today, April 23, at 10:00 a.m. If convicted, Correa faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison with a maximum sentence of life in prison as well as up to a lifetime of supervised release. The charges he is facing are 18:1591.F and 18:1594.F Attempted Sex Trafficking of a Minor and 18:2423.F Attempted Travel to Engage in Illicit Sex Conduct

U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami made the announcement.

HSI Miami investigated the case with assistance from HSI offices in Cleveland, Ohio, and Bogota, Colombia, as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).  The Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of the Judicial Attaché in Bogota, Colombia, also provided critical assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Astigarraga-Little is prosecuting it.

To read the full complaint (federal charges), click here.

A criminal complaint contains mere allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate better, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

To report suspected human trafficking or to obtain resources for victims, please call 1-888-373-7888; text “BeFree” (233733), or live chat at HumanTraffickingHotline.org. The toll-free phone, SMS text lines, and online chat function are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Help is available in English, Spanish, Creole, or in more than 200 additional languages. The National Hotline is not managed by law enforcement, immigration, or an investigative agency. Correspondence with the National Hotline is confidential, and you may request assistance or report a tip anonymously.

To report online child sexual exploitation visit https://report.cybertip.org/ or call 1-800-843-5678. The Cyber Tip Line is operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in partnership with HSI and other law enforcement agencies.

To learn more about the National Resource Hotline, visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org. To learn more about the U.S. Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking, visit www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at https://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 24-mj-02786.