Woman Traded For Heroin

ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- Police have arrested a New Mexico man accused of trading heroin for a woman in Santa Fe.

Police caught 24-year-old Herman Flores Jr. last Friday in bed with the 19-year-old woman he is accused of getting in a trade.

Investigators say the woman told them she was first traded back in October by her brother for drugs.

"The brother couldn't afford the narcotics. So what he would do is he would trade her off for the narcotics that he would receive. And he would use her as his payment," said Sgt. Christopher Lopez of the Espanola Police Department.

Police say it was an on and off arrangement that had gone cold while Flores was in jail, but last week he was released from jail.

Flores found the woman at an Espanola apartment complex, where police say he kidnapped her.

"She was afraid for her own personal safety. She just went along with it and did what she had to do to protect herself," said Sgt. Lopez.

Police say they would love to arrest the woman's brother under a new state law that bans human trafficking, but lawyers at the attorney general's office say police can't because the law doesn't go into effect until July 1.

Police are looking into possible pandering and prostitution charges against the woman's brother.

Meanwhile, Flores has been charged with kidnapping and rape.