NEWS
Albuquerque pediatric nurse charged in child sexual abuse material case
Former Presbyterian Hospital employee is accused of trading and selling child sexual abuse videos on messaging app Kik
A pediatric nurse at Presbyterian Hospital in Downtown Albuquerque is accused of having and selling child sexual abuse videos on a messaging platform.
Blade Rogers, 29, is charged with possession of visual medium of sexual exploitation of a child under the age of 13. He was arrested and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Thursday.
It was unclear Thursday if he had an attorney.
Rogers has since been fired from his position, according to Presbyterian Hospital spokesperson Kourtney Mu帽oz. He worked as a placement coordinator in 2020 before becoming a nurse in 2024.
Mu帽oz said there were no indications of prior concerns and the hospital did an extensive background check prior to his employment.
鈥淲e learned today about this individual鈥檚 arrest and these deeply disturbing allegations,鈥 Mu帽oz said. 鈥淥ur priority is the safety of our patients and the well-being of our team. The individual is no longer employed by Presbyterian. We will work closely with law enforcement during its investigation.鈥
In early February, the New Mexico Department of Justice was notified by Kik 鈥 an instant messaging company 鈥 that a user on the app had sent or received child sexual abuse videos, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
Kik reported that multiple videos of child sexual abuse had been sent on the app, ranging from 10 seconds to a minute-long video of children ranging in age from 5 to 11 being raped, the complaint states.
According to the complaint, Rogers used the account to trade and sell the videos to other users on Kik.
鈥淒o you like older or younger,鈥 asked a Kik user, whose name was redacted in the criminal complaint. 鈥淵ounger,鈥 Rogers allegedly responded before asking if the person traded videos. He allegedly told the user he had a 鈥渕ega link鈥 for sale that contained 3,000 child pornography videos that he would sell for $35.
In a separate message, an unknown user said they had multiple videos to sell and Rogers allegedly responded by requesting 鈥済ay dad and son hardcore rape鈥 videos, the complaint states. Rogers agreed to purchase a 鈥渂ig link鈥 of videos for $20, though it is unclear how many videos are in each link.
Rogers was also a member of multiple group chats on Kik, though the complaint did not detail how many members were in the group chat or what was said.
Kik submitted the associated IP address to the NMDOJ and a subpoena was issued. On Feb. 23, a phone number and email were generated and police traced the email back to Rogers, according to the complaint.
On Thursday, the NMDOJ went to Rogers鈥 house to serve a search warrant and searched through his phone. Rogers told police he used various social media apps but did not name Kik, the complaint states.
鈥淭he Kik application was located on the device seized by Mr. Rogers鈥 person and a file depicting child sexual abuse material was located,鈥 according to the complaint.
Nakayla McClelland covers crime and breaking news. Reach her at nmcclelland@abqjournal.com or at 505-823-3857.