Former Md. official charged with soliciting sex from agent posing as 13-year-old

A former Maryland official has been charged with soliciting sex from an undercover agent posing as a 13-year-old girl.

Luis Esteban Borunda, 65, was charged with one count of sexual solicitation of a minor, Maryland State Police said in a news release.

Borunda is a co-founder of U.S. Hispanic Youth Entrepreneur Education. In his biography, he lists being the first Hispanic in Maryland history to serve as the Deputy Secretary of State.

Borunda — also the former Maryland Deputy Director of State under the Larry Hogan administration — engaged in an inappropriate text chat on a smartphone app, with someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl on Aug. 22, according to state police. It turned out that he was chatting with a special agent with the Fort Meade Army Criminal Investigation Office, posing as an underage girl.

Borunda sent a filtered photo of himself, and suggested meeting with her on Aug. 30, at a location in Anne Arundel County, police said. Upon arrival, he was arrested by state police with members of the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Borunda is being held without bail at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center until a preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for Sept. 27.

“Due to the wide focus of the investigation, it is believed there could be more victims who have yet to be identified,” state police said in a news release.

Neal Augenstein

Neal Augenstein has been a general assignment reporter with WTOP since 1997. He says he looks forward to coming to work every day, even though that means waking up at 3:30 a.m.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up