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The number of sextortion incidents reported to the FBI in New Mexico since January 1 is on track to surpass last year’s total, reinforcing the need for parents, guardians, and teenagers to be aware of this growing online danger.

So far in 2022, the Albuquerque FBI Division has received 107 reports involving allegations of an individual convincing another person, usually a teenager,  to engage in explicit activity over social media applications.

This activity is secretly captured by the predator and used to extort money, additional sexual material, or other things of value from the victim.

Oftentimes, the predator has numerous victims but has evaded law enforcement attention due to the stigma many teens attach to reporting their victimization.

In 2021, the field office had a total of 126 reports, with 44 coming between January and May 2021.

“Few crimes are as damaging and traumatic to a young person as sextortion,” Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda said. “Victims may feel embarrassed and be reluctant to come forward. They and their parents or guardians need to know it’s not their fault. The only way we are going to catch these perpetrators and keep them from harming others is for their victims to contact us.”

Anyone who is a victim of sextortion or has information about this crime is urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov.

Albuquerque Public Schools, in conjunction with the FBI, has started a digital billboard campaign urging kids to be careful online. It includes a link – FBI.GOV/SAFEKIDS – that takes users to the FBI’s website on sextortion.

The Albuquerque FBI Division created a Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force in April 2020, comprised of representatives from the FBI, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office,  U.S. Attorney’s Office, New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, New Mexico State Police, and Albuquerque Police Department.

Sextortion usually begins when an adult contacts a minor over an online platform used to meet and communicate, such as a game, app, or social media account.

In a scheme that has recently become more prevalent, the predator (posing as someone of a similar age) uses deception and manipulation to convince a juvenile, usually 14 to 17 years old, to engage in explicit activity and send videos or images, which are then secretly saved by the predator.

The predator then reveals they have the images or videos and attempts to extort the victim for money, additional material, other things of value, or use of their account in return for not posting the sexual material online.

Sextortion is a crime. The coercion of a child by an adult to produce what is considered Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) carries heavy penalties, which can include up to life sentences for the offender.

To make the victimization stop, children typically have to come forward to someone—normally a parent, teacher, caregiver, or law enforcement.

The embarrassment children feel from the activity they were forced to engage in is what typically prevents them from coming forward.

Sextortion offenders may have hundreds of victims around the world, so coming forward to help law enforcement identify the offender may prevent countless other incidents of sexual exploitation to that victim and others.

The FBI provides the following tips to protect yourself online:

• Be selective about what you share online, especially your personal information and passwords. If your social media accounts are open to everyone, a predator may be able to figure out a lot of information about you or your children.
• Be wary of anyone you encounter for the first time online. Block or ignore messages from strangers.
• Be aware that people can pretend to be anything or anyone online. Videos and photos are not proof that a person is who they claim to be.
• Be suspicious if you meet someone on a game or app and they ask you to start talking to them on a different platform.
• For parents and guardians: Encourage your children to report suspicious behavior to a trusted adult.

If you believe you or someone you know is the victim of sextortion:

• Do not delete anything before law enforcement is able to review it.
• Tell law enforcement everything about the encounters you had online; it may be embarrassing, but it is necessary to find the offender.

More information about sextortion can be found at:

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/stop-sextortion-youth-face-risk-online-090319

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Starting May 31, 2022 at 8AM, the Mescalero Community Center will be open! The swimming pool will be open from 9AM-3:30PM and closed during lunch. Remember kids and parents, there’s only one way in and one way out-through the front entrance of the Tribal Offices. Who can’t wait?

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Whether it’s a little or a lot – we need to do our part.

Help make our reservation beautiful!

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On May 18, 2022, a very proud day for President Martinez, Vice President Via and members of the Tribal Council visited the first two of 26 mobile homes being put together at Windy Point 2.

As the homes are being set up, any necessary utilities will also be installed as well as permanent concrete foundation walls and concrete porch.  

Next month, in June, the Mescalero Housing Department will host a meeting at the Inn of the Mountain Gods about the mobile homes and more information will be available at that time.  

The meeting will start at 5:30 PM on June 14, 2022.

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Provided by Emergency Manager, Michael Watkins

Whether you are preparing for a week or a year the 6 areas or preparedness should be your considered in everything you do while prepping. The 6 areas of preparedness are food, water, shelter, security, sanitation and first aid…not in any certain order.

These are the building blocks of any good preparedness plan. How you prepare in each of these areas will depend on your personal situation, but they need to be included in every preparedness plan.

STORING FOOD

How much food you store, and what you store is completely up to you. There are many suggestions about food storage in the prepper community, but your finances, family size, and storage space all need to be considered. The only wrong way to store food is to not have any when you need it.

WATER STORAGE & SAFETY

These days all you have to do is turn on your faucet and you have clean drinking water, but what if that wasn’t the case? Most people wouldn’t even know where to start if they had to clean their water, but you do, right? Honestly, cleaning water and making it drinkable isn’t as hard as it seems, it just takes a little bit of knowledge.

SURVIVAL SHELTER

When it comes to survival shelter, your home is the most important. Disasters come in different shapes and sizes, and bugging out might not be necessary. Our home is our base camp, so leaving it should be avoided if possible. With that being said, bugging out may be unavoidable, and we need to have the skills and knowledge to do so.

PERSONAL SECURITY

Your personal security starts with you and extends to your home and your surroundings. Everything we do on a daily basis either puts us at risk or makes us safer. Everything from what we do online, to protecting our home from intruders needs to be considered on a daily basis. If you carry a gun, be safe, be legal and be trained.

SANITATION

One commonly overlooked aspect of preparedness is sanitation. With the availability of over the counter medications, medical facility’s, and being lucky enough to live in a first world country, we don’t think about the dangers of bad sanitation. In a SHTF situation it’s not just about body odor and stinky feet. It’s about preventing illness, and not adding to an already bad situation.

FIRST AID & MEDICAL SKILLS

Whether you are in a natural disaster, or an all out SHTF scenario, first aid should be one of your top priorities. Most of these basic first aid skills are easy to learn, and when you do, you’ll have a better idea about what supplies you need. In a survival situation, you might be the only option. You could literally make the difference between someone dying or living. Our local Fire Depart provides First Aid and CPR training, get the whole family trained.

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Direct deposit payments to hit bank accounts this week, checks to follow

SANTA FE— Gov. Lujan Grisham announced on Wednesday that $200 million in household relief is on its way to over 550,000 New Mexico taxpayers. Taxpayers who receive funds through direct deposit are scheduled to receive at least $250 in relief in the next day. Paper checks for another 200,000 taxpayers will begin going out in the following days and will continue to over the next few weeks.  

“Starting today and throughout the summer, we are putting nearly half a billion dollars back into the pockets of New Mexicans,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham. “Across the country, Americans are grappling with the high costs of essentials. Here in New Mexico, we are doing all we can to provide relief to New Mexico’s families.”

The rebates being issued this week were approved by the governor and legislature in a special legislative session this spring to help New Mexico households cope with the nationally rising prices of groceries, gasoline and other expenses.

“Taxation and Revenue employees are working as quickly as possible to get this much-needed cash back to taxpayers,” said Taxation and Revenue Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke.

Taxpayers who file individual returns will receive another $250 rebate in August in addition to the funds disbursed this week. Those who file joint returns with a spouse or as heads of household will receive $500 rebates beginning this week and another $500 in August.

The same legislation that authorized the rebates also set aside $20 million for economic relief payments to New Mexicans who do not file state income taxes because of their income levels. Only non-filers may apply for the one-time relief payments of either $500 or $1,000 depending on family size. Applications are open at the Human Services Department website until May 31, 2022, or as long as funding allows.

New Mexicans displaced by wildfires who are unable to receive their mail have multiple options for receiving physical checks. Currently, mail is being sent to the Las Vegas Post Office for Chacon, Guadalupita and Rociada residents. Residents from these areas may either pick up their mail in person at the Las Vegas Post Office; call 1-800-ASK-USPS to have their mail forwarded to a different address; or call the post office in Las Vegas at 505-425-9387 and request to have their mail delivered once a week to the Taos Post Office if they are temporarily staying in the Taos area. Residents living in any other evacuated area should contact their local post office to receive their mail. The Mora Post Office has now open reopened – Mora residents should contact the post office directly.

Taxpayers who filed their 2021 returns after the April 18 deadline and have not yet been processed will receive their rebates after they are posted. Taxpayers can check the status of their returns on the Department’s Taxpayer Access Point self-service portal.

New Mexicans who did not file a 2021 tax return have until May 31, 2023, to file and receive a rebate, unless they receive a non-filer relief payment. Another rebate of either $250 or $500, depending on filing status, will be issued to taxpayers in July. That rebate, approved during the 2022 regular legislative session, will be sent automatically to New Mexicans who filed 2021 Personal Income Tax returns and had less than $75,000 in income for single filers and married individuals filing separately, or less than $150,000 for married couples filing joint returns, heads of household and surviving spouses.

Taken together, New Mexico families may receive up to $1,500 in relief this year.

More information on the rebates and relief payments is available at tax.newmexico.gov.

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Check out the video the National Fire Prevention Education Teams did with some of our tribal members! Fire prevention is truly important in our daily lives. Thank you, Mr. Enjady, Rylee Chino and the NFPET!

Listen to artist Oliver Enjady from the Mescalero Apache Tribe. Oliver delivers a fire prevention message in his native Apache language and in English to the children and adults of the the Tribe. His message comes at a time when the Southwest is in the midst of high fire danger with numerous large wildfires on the landscape in Arizona and New Mexico. Did you know that 9 out of 10 wildfires in the U.S. are human caused? In the Southwest, (Arizona and New Mexico) about half of the wildfires are human caused, and we need your help to prevent wildfires! With all the recent fires in the region, our National Fire Prevention Education Team (NFPET) has been working with various state, federal and local agencies to help boost wildfire prevention messaging. We are facilitating wildfire awareness to the local communities by attending events, going to visitor centers and dropping by businesses throughout the Southwest. Video Credit: Jacob Welsh, NFPET Public Information Officer

YouTube Channel: Fire Prevention Education Teams

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On May 17, 2022 Mescalero Parks & Recreation announced that Mescalero Cabins will be CLOSED for the remainder of the 2022 season.

Parks & Recreation Department

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