A former assistant admissions administrator at Emmanuel College who allegedly offered to pay a 17-year-old prospective student “for some fun,” similarly propositioned a 13-year-old, court records show.
Jacob Henriques, 29, of Boston was arrested Friday on charges of attempted sex trafficking of a minor for his alleged communications with the 17-year-old, according to a complaint filed in US District Court in Boston.
At his first appearance hearing on Monday, US Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein ordered Henriques be held without bail until detention and probable cause hearings scheduled for Wednesday, prosecutors said.
College officials immediately fired Henriques, and in an email on Friday a spokesperson said the “serious federal allegations” were “an affront to our core values.”
Henriques’s lawyer, Monica R. Shah, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Boston Globe Monday evening.
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On April 20, Henriques allegedly contacted the 13-year-old Western Massachusetts girl via Instagram asking, “you down to have fun,” and offering to “pay tonight,” the complaint said.
Charging documents do not say if the girl was a prospective student at Emmanuel or who reported the incident, but the FBI learned about it two days later on April 22, court records show.
Henriques met his next alleged victims on April 25 at a campus admissions day event, according to the 21-page complaint.
That evening, a 17-year-old local high school student, who had formally committed to attend the Boston college, and had met Henriques while touring the campus that day, began receiving text messages from an unknown person.
The person offered to pay her $400 for “some fun” and told her he had pornographic videos and pictures to share with her, prosecutors said.
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Henriques refused to tell her who he was or how he got her number.
He allegedly accessed the girl’s personal information through the college’s portal 47 times between April 25 and April 28, according to charging documents.
After the girl blocked his phone number, Henriques started sending her emails, court records show.
When the girl recognized Henriquez’s name on his email address, she confronted him.
“Well considering you’re the assistant director of admissions, I think it’s pretty weird you’re texting a minor,” she wrote.
“And using information I personally gave for the tour,” she added.
“To contact me about pornography,” she continued.
She sent Henriques a photo of himself, and threatened to contact police, court documents show.
Henriques denied that it was him, allegedly writing, “bro that isn’t me.”
According to charging documents, Henriques sent similar solicitations to at least two other prospective students. Both are adults.
The college’s statement said officials took swift action as soon as they learned about the accusations against Henriques, contacting law enforcement, cooperating with authorities, launching their own investigation, and terminating Henriques.
Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.