BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com

A Los Alamos man has been issued a criminal summons charging him with 10 petty misdemeanor counts of patronizing prostitutes and one second degree felony count of trafficking of a controlled substance – heroin. Los Alamos Police Department Det. Ryan Wolking filed a criminal summons Thursday for 74-year old Bruce B. Barrus in Los Alamos Magistrate Court.

Court documents indicate that in June a mother called LAPD stating she believed Barrus was paying her daughter and her daughter’s friend for sex acts and that she believed it had been going on for years.

The mother said the girls “need the money to feed their heroin additions” and that Barrus had purchased a car and given it to one of the girls. Wolking’s report stated that he later found that a vehicle had been transferred from Barrus to the girl. It said the mother reported that Barrus stayed almost every day at the girls’ apartment in Espanola and that she had seen a bank statement showing a wire transfer of hundreds of dollars to her daughter from Barrus.

On Oct. 23, the mother of the second girl provided Wolking with texts between Barrus and her daughter that had been left on her phone from when her daughter borrowed it.

“In the messages Bruce and (the girl) discuss purchasing heroin in various amounts and Bruce is funding these transactions in hundreds of dollars,” the report stated.

Wolking texted Barrus pretending to be the girl.

“The text messages were sexually suggestive but not explicit. For example I suggested I wanted to make money and asked him what he would want for money. Bruce responded, ‘I want you to keep your past promises including to make it worth my while. I’m still waiting’.”

Wolking determined that the phone he was calling belonged to Barrus. His report states that he called Barrus and asked him to call him to arrange a time for him to come to the police department for them to speak.

On Thursday, Barrus and Wolking finally met for an interview.

“Bruce stated he and (one of the girls) had sexual intercourse 10 times. Throughout our interview Bruce explained these physical acts were in exchange for money, him helping (the girl) obtain new tires, a bunk bed for her kids, etc. And he stated all along he had been trying to get her to quit using drugs. Bruce explained he had not always received something for the money he provided but he got a promise of sexual activity. Bruce stated he did not ever consume or use drugs himself but he knew he was providing money to (the girl) in order for her to obtain heroin,” Wolking’s report states.

Barrus told Wolking the girl would go purchase the heroin and bring it to him and he would then provide the heroin to her in so that she would not overdose.

“In one text, Bruce texted (the girl) saying, ‘I am bringing the rotisserie chicken, the frozen veggies and the yeast rolls plus 0.8 g. black over to your house now.’ When I asked him what that meant Bruce acknowledged it was heroin,” the report states. In another text that referred to “a 60 off white”, Barrus said the reference was to $60 of crack cocaine.

The report says that by the end of the interview Barrus was quite upset and stated repeatedly that he was only trying to help (the girl) and that he wanted her off drugs and in treatment for her addiction.

A first appearance for Barrus before Magistrate Judge Pat Casados has been set for Tuesday, Dec. 10.