Active-duty military member charged with child rape, trafficking in Vancouver

An active-duty U.S. military member was arrested in Vancouver last week and charged with six counts of second-degree rape of a child and two counts of first-degree trafficking.

On June 24, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) obtained information that multiple juveniles were staying in a hotel with an adult male, later identified as 20-year-old Andrew Guerrero, VPD announced Wednesday.

Guerrero was reportedly having sex with teen girls at the hotel. VPD responded and located three juvenile males and two juvenile females inside a room registered in Guerrero’s name.

Detectives learned the suspect met the teens online before exploiting them

The females were identified as being 13 and 16 years old. Over the course of the investigation, VPD officers and Children’s Justice Center (CJC) detectives learned that Guerrero met the victims roughly one month earlier through social media.

After communicating online, the suspect eventually met the victims in person and began spending time with them. This ultimately led Guerrero to allow the teenagers to stay with him in his hotel room.

VPD noted that Guerrero developed a relationship with the juvenile girls and began sexually exploiting them. Detectives also learned that he recorded sexual acts involving the girls using social media apps and provided them with alcohol.

Both teen girls were placed into protective custody, and Guerrero was arrested and charged.

“This investigation highlights the dangers of teens communicating with strangers online,” VPD stated. “The Vancouver Police Department urges parents to monitor their children’s social media activity and speak candidly with them about the dangers of online sexual exploitation and solicitation.”

The investigation remains active, and VPD noted that no additional information will be released at this time.

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