ROGERS, Ark. — A man claiming to be a child predator hunter has been arrested in Rogers for allegedly possessing child sex abuse materials.
Brandon James San-Miguel, 38, was booked into the Benton County Jail on June 17 on 10 counts of distributing, possessing, or viewing sexually explicit child material and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. His bond has been set at $500,000.
An affidavit says that on June 17, Rogers police conducted a traffic stop on San-Miguel and found that he had an outstanding extraditable warrant and a non-extraditable warrant out of California for child sex abuse materials.
San-Miguel was transported to the Benton County Jail, according to the affidavit. Inventory was taken of his personal items, which included hard drives, SIM cards, flash drives, laptops, and cell phones.
Multiple credit and debit cards in other people's names, a semi-automatic rifle, and drug paraphernalia related to methamphetamine and marijuana were also found, the affidavit said.
When officers called the jail to inform them of the incoming drug paraphernalia charge, they found that San-Miguel had been released for a reason unknown to the investigator, according to the affidavit.
Court documents say that officers reviewed San-Miguel's criminal history and found a 2019 arrest for "alien smuggling" and a 2023 arrest for possession of a controlled substance while armed, possession of a controlled substance for sale, unlawful vehicle registration, and transport/sale of narcotics.
After his release, San-Miguel went to the Rogers Police Department to attempt to retrieve his vehicle. The affidavit says that he was arrested and taken to an interview room.
San-Miguel explained that the credit and debit cards with someone else's name were from a friend, and that he hadn't used them. He explained that the firearm was purchased from a friend years prior, and that he couldn't purchase a firearm at a store because he had been "flagged" for a reason unknown to him, the affidavit said.
San-Miguel also reportedly told police that the drug paraphernalia was from when he used methamphetamine the previous night. When officers asked about the electronic devices, San-Miguel explained that he is part of an online predator hunter group, and that he created fake accounts on various social media sites to get people to send him child sex abuse materials, which he would later provide to the police.
San-Miguel told officers that he used the phones and computers to carry out his undercover operations, and that he was still actively predator hunting, the affidavit said.
"Brandon continually said he was not a bad person and that he wanted to help law enforcement. Brandon was adamant that there would not be any CSAM on any of the devices," the affidavit said.
Court documents say that San-Miguel consented to searches for all of the devices except for the laptops. He then asked for an attorney and ended the interview.
On June 18, police made contact with the Orange County Sheriff's Office in California, who said that after his 2023 drug arrest, San-Miguel's devices were searched and law enforcement found 47 child porn videos and 14 images, and that the common age of the victims in the content was nine to 11 years old, according to the affidavit.
On June 20, officers searched San-Miguel's devices and found multiple videos of child sexual abuse material. Additionally, police found Google searches such as "In Arkansas an adult can date a 16-year-old" and "what are some teen dating apps girls in Arkansas use," the affidavit said.
San-Miguel is ordered to appear in Benton County court on Aug. 12.
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