Police are trying to find more possible victims of a Deerfield Beach man who was arrested earlier this month for allegedly sexually battering two teens.
Ternell Cartagena, 22, was arrested Feb. 9 on a half-dozen charges that include sexual battery, lewd and lascivious battery, online solicitation of a child, transmissing info harmful to minors and obscene communication.
Court documents allege Cartagena met the teens by selling them vape pens and other drugs, then found ways to get alone with them and sexually battered them.
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He continued the abuse with one of the teens for weeks, the documents said.
The incidents started in mid-January and only stopped when one of their parents noticed inappropriate text messages on the teen’s cell phone, police said.
Police said Cartagena even went so far as to solicit sex from one of the teens by offering her drugs and nicotine in exchange.
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In a statement Wednesday, Coconut Creek Police, who arrested Cartagena, said they're investigating to see if there are more victims.
"Right now we have at least two victims and at least one more is coming forward," Coconut Creek Police spokesman Scotty Leamon said. "The bottom line is if there’s anybody else out there that knows something or if this guy victimized anybody else, what he was doing was predatory behavior. If he victimized anyone else we’d like to know about it.”
It appears Cartagena, who goes by the nickname "Nuk," may have had contact with other juveniles before his arrest, police said.
"We want to get his picture out there, his face and his nickname, ‘Nuk,' so if there’s a parent who was checking their teen's phone and that name came across, we just want to make sure there’s no more victims out there we don’t know about," Leamon said. "It’s just good for parents to get in the phone, check every app and contact. What have they been looking at, that’s kind how this got started was a phone check."
Cartagena remained held without bond Wednesday, Broward jail records showed.
Anyone with information can call the Coconut Creek Police Department at 954-973-6700.
