BOCA RATON, FL — The babysitter ad was bait. Boynton Beach police say a detective posted the listing on a Craigslist message board, writing as a 14-year-old girl offering to watch kids while school was out. The account that answered, according to a probable cause affidavit, belonged to a 51-year-old Boca Raton man.
Maximiliano Buitrago was arrested July 16 and charged with solicitation to commit human trafficking and unlawful use of a two-way communication device, according to the affidavit filed by the Boynton Beach Police Department.
Buitrago, of the 300 block of Northeast 31st Street in Boca Raton, was booked into the Palm Beach County Main Detention Center that evening, jail records show. Detective B. Joseph wrote the affidavit and made the arrest.
Police say the case started online. Detective Joseph, working undercover as a girl who wrote that she was "almost 15," posted the babysitting listing on Craigslist. A user who went by "Alex" replied by email, according to the affidavit, asking, "Are you trying to make cash any other way? What else can you do?" Investigators later identified that user as Buitrago.
The conversation moved from Craigslist to text messages on July 15 and continued into the next day, the affidavit states. Police say the undercover detective repeatedly reinforced that the "girl" was a minor, referencing foster parents, foster siblings and not wanting kids at school to find out.
According to the affidavit, Buitrago's messages included offers to pay for "foot content," writing that he could pay "a few hundred in a day or more" for photos and videos of the child's feet and proposing to meet in person to hand over cash. When the undercover detective asked who would see the videos, police say Buitrago answered that "only private clients overseas will see them."
Investigators also cited a possible earlier link. Police say a database search turned up a February 12 Boca Raton Police report about advertisement cards found near Boca Raton Middle School, reading "Easy cash $100 and more for quick feet/model sessions." The affidavit states the phone number on those cards matched the number texting the undercover detective.
The two arranged to meet the afternoon of July 16 at a park along the Intracoastal, the affidavit says. Officers watched a vehicle drive around Harvey Oyer Park at 2010 N. Federal Highway in Boynton Beach and made the arrest there. Police say the undercover phone was called and rang inside the car, where it was found on the front passenger seat, along with advertisement cards like the ones reported in Boca Raton.
In a post-Miranda statement, Buitrago confirmed the online and text contact and said he came to the park to meet the child, according to the affidavit. Police say he told investigators the $50 in his pocket was for the child, that the cards found near the Boca Raton school were his, and that he planned to make and sell videos of the child's feet on a website.
The charges are allegations. Buitrago has not been convicted, and an arrest is not proof of guilt.
Jail records show Buitrago was held without bond on the human trafficking solicitation charge and on $5,000 bond for the two-way device charge. He was scheduled for a first appearance the morning of July 17 at the South County Courthouse, 200 W. Atlantic Ave. in Delray Beach, court records show. The case is filed as 50-2026-CF-005324-AXXX-MB in Palm Beach County. No defense attorney was listed in the records available.
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