Law&Crime Sidebar - Pedophile Pharmacist Busted En Route to Assault Trafficked Teen

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

Stefan Andres Correa, a pharmacist in the Miami area, will spend the rest of his life in prison after investigators discovered that he traveled to Medellin, Colombia at least 45 times over the last two years to have sex with underage girls. When agents took Correa into custody on a jet bridge in Miami, he had nine cell phones, at least some of which contained child porn he filmed. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber spoke with Tyler Schwab, CEO of Libertas International, who was directly involved in helping some of Correa’s victims.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If your child, under 21, has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, visit https://forthepeople.com/food to start a claim now!HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A Miami pharmacist will spend the rest of his life behind bars after pleading guilty to traveling to Columbia dozens of times over the last few years specifically to have sex with minors. The evidence against him was as sickening as it was overwhelming. And plus, we're going to sit down with the CEO of an organization that is dedicated to helping girls in these awful situations to get a behind-the-scenes look from somebody who had a direct impact on this case. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime.

I'm Jesse Weber. Hey, everybody, this is another law and crime legal alert. Did you know, You know that children are being diagnosed with serious conditions like type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and the research is potentially linking ultra-processed foods to all this? Yeah, well Morgan and Morgan, they're stepping into fight to hold these food companies accountable. With decades of experience, fighting large corporations, they're ready to stand up for the families who deserve justice.

So if your child under 21 has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, then visit www.forthepeople.com slash food or scan the QR code on screen. to learn more. On April 19th, 2024, 43-year-old Stefan Andres Correa was standing on a jet bridge at Miami International Airport, waiting to board a flight to Bogota, Colombia, en route to the city of Medellin. Now, the Ecuadorian American National was suddenly surrounded by officers. According to news outlet El Tienpo, five officers asked Correa to get out of line and said they were going to search his carry-on. on bags. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida says investigators found

he was carrying nine cell phones, and on those phones were 100 photos and videos of Karea having sex with more than 50 minors. Some of them believed to be as young as 10 years old. How brazen is that, by the way, right there in the airport boarding a flight, photos, videos of children being sexually abused by him. Does it get more horrific than that? Now, according to Homeland Security, Correa, a pharmacist in the Miami area, had apparently traveled to Meda Ian dozens of times for the express purpose of having sex with underage girls. And his chat messages bear that out. Correa was found to be chatting with multiple pimps in Medea about the types of children

he likes and what he wants to do to them. Now, the messages, understandably, are quite upsetting, but I do want to share a little bit of the back and forth that was included in Correa's indictment because it really does illustrate Correa's depravity and why he is now going to spend the rest of his life behind bars. According to an affidavit from a Homeland Security investigator, this conversation took place between a sex trafficker and Correa in April of 2024 just before his arrest as he was planning to travel to Colombia. The affidavit notes that the messages have been translated from Spanish into English for the purposes of the indictment. But here you go. Correa says,

you know my taste very skinny how old and when is the birthday the trafficker responds yes obviously she'll be 12 in july okay her and manuela confirmed got it at what time will you be in medean in the afternoon the trafficker then recommends another girl for korea trafficker says love what if i take natalie how much for her korea responds natalie turns 11 or 12 in December? She turns 12. Is she ready for the whole thing? What you mean? Is she going to allow me to go all the way? Or is she going to cry and ask me to stop? Obviously she will. Correa then discusses payment. 300,000 Colombian pesos or around 75 US dollars. Correa messages, okay, so 300,000 for you and 300,000 for her and an iPhone 7 or 8 plus. You need to be in the

bathroom, please, so there can be privacy because she'll probably cry again because of the pain. Like that, she'll know there's no turning back. She'll have to allow me to enjoy myself and she can try to enjoy herself. If she behaves and takes good care of me, you can keep bringing her and you'll each get 300K. He goes on to say things like she needs to understand that she needs me to enjoy myself without turning back, and she's not the first virgin that has cried to me. Correa also says that if the girl brings a friend that he likes, he'll give that girl an iPhone as well. It's just pretty sick, disgusting stuff to say the least. Now, according to the indictment between 2022 and 2024, Correa told investigators he traveled to Columbia 45 times.

And it wasn't just Correa, who was apparently caught in this anti-sex trafficking operation, because he apparently used digital Colombian banking apps that investigators were able to follow the money to some of the alleged pimps. Two women, both 19 at the time, were arrested in Colombia. According to outlet El Nuevo Siglo, Lina Marcella Velazquez Maldonado handed over her own 11-year-old cousin to be abused by Correa. She's already been sentenced to 21 years and two months in prison. Another woman, Maria Camila Cano Cuervo is being prosecuted for allegedly organizing a meeting between Correa and a 15-year-old. She's been released from custody as the case progresses. this is according to El Nuevo Siglo's reporting.

News outlet Santa Marta Aldia reports that at least six victims were forensically interviewed by Colombian police and were able to corroborate what happened while Correa was in the country. Now, Correa, he changed his plea from not guilty to guilty in federal court in Florida was sentenced at the end of June, and in its sentencing memorandum that was filed with the court, the prosecution pointed out that Correa could be eligible for decades in prison for even victim. victimizing one child, but they know of at least 50. Quote, the defendant's conduct in this case was egregious. Just from the evidence the government has available to it,

the defendant engaged in commercial sex acts with minor children between the ages of 10 and 17 repeatedly over a two-year period. To date, the government has identified over 50 minor girls who were victimized by the defendant throughout the offense conduct. Ever proud of his praying on these minor victims, the defendant also secretly recorded his sex acts with them and saved them to his private collection on his Google Drive. Coray himself wrote a letter to the judge prior to sentencing, saying that his attorney had failed him. He wrote that his attorney, Albert Chiantes, didn't tell him when his confirmed sentencing date was, and he had to find out through a third party. He also accused the lawyer of not being professional.

Correa wrote, Mr. Quirontes failed to provide me all the government's evidence against me until after I signed my guilty plea. It is as if he unethically held the evidence hostage until I agreed to the government's guilty plea offer to which Mr. Quintes refused to counteroffer despite my requests. He also confirms that there was incorrect information in the evidence files. Quote, primary victim's age is incorrect in all documents, including guilty plea and factual proffer. The official birth certificate in the government's evidence files does not. match the age stated. There are dozens of pages of evidence against me, which had a different defendant's name on it, and was evidence for a different unrelated case. I informed Mr. Krientes about the documents with someone else's name on it, and he seemed shocked that I found

something so clear that he did not care to see such a grave mistake in the government's evidence files. He claims his attorney failed to act despite knowing the information was wrong, and Correa also chose to make this kind of unfathomable statement. in his letter, quote, Although I may have had an unhealthy yet treatable sex drive, at least I am honest, as I have learned in Psalm 25, all of God's paths are kindness and truth. Now, Mr. Correa will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Unfortunately, Correa isn't the only American to travel to Columbia, Medell, and specifically for what's referred to as sex tourism. Sex work is not illegal in Colombian. The age of consent is apparently 14, but paying a minor for sex is illegal. According to a 2024 article in El Pais, Medellin's mayor declared that the city had, quote, hit rock bottom after an American man named Timothy Livingston

was found with two girls, age 12 and 13, in a luxury hotel room. El Pais reports that since he wasn't caught in the act of actually abusing the girls, he was released from custody and almost immediately flew back to the United States. El Pais reports that Colombian authorities did end up seeking an international arrest Warren after one of the girls confirmed she had had a sexual encounter with Livingston and there was an investigation to eight officers with the national police who responded, according to Outlet Columbia One, because of their failure to take important steps like preserving the hotel crime scene. As for Livingston in 2024, according to Columbia One, Interpol put out a blue notice for him,

meaning that he's wanted for questioning a connection with a crime, but we weren't able to find any updates since then. Obviously, this is a sensitive but important topic to talk about. And for that, I want to bring on a special guest. I want to bring in Tyler Schwab. Now, Tyler is the CEO of Libertas International. This is an NGO dedicated to the prevention, liberation, and restoration of survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Latin America. Tyler, thank you so much for coming here on Sidebar. Really appreciate it. Yeah, so our organization, you described a mission really well, And basically what we do is we support survivors of human trafficking in their healing process, getting them from point A to point D to point Z, wherever they're looking to get to.

And unfortunately, because of the work that we do, a lot of the people that we find who are the abusers in these cases are American tourists, American citizens. And so it's kind of like there's two ways where we work the problem. It's one, we collaborate with local authorities to ensure they have the information that we have about these American sex tourists, about these people that travel to the developing world to abuse kids, and then helping a survivor heal, helping her get educated, heal from addiction, heal from physical trauma, mental trauma. You get to a point where she is self-sufficient, he is self-sufficient, and they can fly on their own.

So in a nutshell, that's what we do is we work on the aftercare side and the justice side. That's incredible work. That is incredible work and so necessary, because as talking to you and hearing about this case, happens. It's prevalent. And here, you were directly involved in getting justice for some of Correa's victims, right? Yeah, you know, I mean, I can't take much credit because I don't think, I don't think it was me. I think it was definitely like these, these amazing survivors. Like, it's, it's easy to offer support, but it's the hard thing is to take that support, take advantage of it, utilize it, invest in yourself to where you are addiction-free, where you are free of

exploitation where you can study and where you can travel to Miami to testify in a federal sentencing. But we were involved from the very beginning as far as like organization because this guy had 52 victims that were aware of and these girls needed help. And so because of our partnership with Homeland Security investigations, the Clement National Police, like they call us to support these girls. And so what that looks like is when we first meet with them, we do in a very neutral setting, share a meal, and just explain who we are. Here's what we do. Here's what we offer are you interested in this it's totally free you can totally say no if you'd like but the help is there if you want help and so the girls in this case the girls in the korea case

they came to us with a lot of trauma they came with came to us with a whole lot of needs and lucky enough that we were able to find donors to support that we were able to walk with them in their healing to where they could stand before him and really seal his fate with that life sentence what did you learn about him during the course of these conversations Oh, man. Well, I think the most accurate description I think is if anyone is a believer, like in Christianity or some kind of afterlife, I got it, like whatever people believe in. If there is a devil, then his name is Stefan Correa if he's walking among us. Like, this guy was just a monster. One of the things we learned about him just in the sentencing was that he actually would make New Year's resolutions about how many kids he wanted to rape that year. And so during the sentencing, he had this sheet that they had found during his initial search at the Miami airport where it says goals for 2024, rape 10 to 20 new kitties ages 10 to 20. I had no idea that he had that document. And the fact that he was pursuing that is like a New Year's resolution.

He's just, he's an evil, evil man. He's also very cunning, you know, he made these girls, he tricked these girls into what they did in various, sophisticated ways. One girl, for example, she has a very soft heart, a very deep soul, and he said that if she didn't do these things with him, that he would take his own life

and that she would have to have that on her conscience forever. Another girl, when his emotional manipulation wouldn't work, he would just force her. He had a pimp that would hold her down. This girl was 10 years old, and he would abuse her while she was being held down by this female pimp. And so for him, I guess,

the thing that would sum up him is that no, was never an answer. You can never say no to him. And throughout the time of just two years, there's 52 kids in Latin America who had their innocence, their virginity, taken by this man. And in summary, if there's a devil, his name is Stefan Correa. That's what I learned about it. It's pretty horrifying, to say the least. Is Colombia focus in particular for your organization, or are you doing work in other countries as well? Do you see this issue more prevalent in certain places than others? you know we kind of stumbled our way into columbia honestly um we we were working we work you know in a lot of different areas across the world the united states guatemala even some pacific islands

thailand we have some partners out there that work out in thailand and in columbia we were there and that was when i got referred my first case of of sex tourism by a guy named victor galarza this guy's been locked up he's serving i think year three of a 17 year sentence but he was a guy who would travel to Columbia, he would abuse minors, and he would, again, like, he would film the abuse discreetly, and then he would use those videos to make those girls work for him, saying that if you didn't work for me, then I'll put these videos on the internet. But what they girls didn't know is that he would do it anyway. He was actually putting the videos on a site called Pornhub and making money off their abuse anyway. And so that was my first case there. We kind of stumbled

into it. And then those girls knew more girls that knew more girls that knew more girls. girls that knew more girls. And for whatever reason, in Colombia, in the city of Medellin, like by the end of 2024 or 2023, we had something like 30 American sex tourists identified who were actively abusing kids or abused kids in the past. You know, we have operations in other countries, but nothing to the scale that we have in Colombia. And I mean, we have one guy who, I mean, Korea, 52 victims. We have a guy. 12 victims, and then we even have a guy from New York that abused a girl who's only 19 months old. So, I mean, we have other operations, but nothing is as severe or as big as what we have going on in Colombia.

How do these guys go to these countries? Are they told that, hey, if you want this, you'll get this? I mean, what makes them know, what makes them think they can operate on a foreign land and get what they want? I mean, this is kind of, I'm sure it's new to a lot of our viewers and listeners that, this is going on. I mean, is this advertised? Is this marketed? Is it word of mouth? How are these defendants, these criminals, how are they finding out about this and doing this and engaging in this? Is there a market for it? Yeah, I think there's a market for it. I think that's the biggest problem, you know, it's like just basic supply and demands is because there's a demand for it,

people are going to make a supply for it. And it's, I mean, it's all over the world. Like even, you know, where I'm from in Wyoming, we get cases of human trafficking. all the time in this you know the smallest state in the union um and a lot of these guys like what i've learned over the last few years is how connected they are to where if there's a guy who's abusing a girl in a place like Thailand or a place like uganda or a place like columbia they're communicating with other people they're doing the same type of thing because the korea case actually came to pass because of a different guy who was caught in a very fancy hotel in medellin with two underage girls and he escaped justice he escaped columbi he went back to the united states

and Colombia kind of exploded in protest and in anger. And during the investigation, coming to find out that this guy who had escaped was in communication with Stefan Correa, they were abusing some of the same victims. He got on the alert, he got the flag, and what they found, you know, was just a suitcase full of horrors on his way to, on his way back to Columbia. And so these guys communicate. And so if there's one guy that's living in Dominican Republic, that's abusing some girls down there,

he's communicating to other people that have. the same type of interest, which, you know, it's really scary. You know, the internet has made the world so small to where you can have a friend, a pedophile friend who's lives in another part of the world that you're out to be communicating with, sharing material with, and before long, those same friends end up traveling to the same place to sometimes even abuse the same kids. Do you find that most victims want assistance, that they want to get out, that they want to, you know, try to return to what a normal life is? Or is it, do you see that they're, I don't know, maybe desensitized this because if they've been abused for so long, this might be their new normal.

I mean, but do you find that they want assistance? Do you feel any sense of pushback? Yeah, you know, that's a great question. I think you talk about like this, they're accustomed to the abuse, and that is true. And no one likes being taken out of like their comfort zone, even their comfort zone is hell, because they're so used to it. Like the girls in the Korea case, I mean, the first time we took. one of them out to dinner just to offer their help like they were like well what do i owe you what i have to do what do i what do i need to you know give in return to you she knew it wasn't anything sexual but she knew normally she'd have to give something in return for this free meal that we're giving her and we were just like no you don't have to give us anything like you you don't have

to say yes to like the help they were offering you like this meal is totally free and you can stop anytime you want and that's like the beginning of like our process with them is letting them know that like safe people people that are caring that are supportive they will give you support without expecting anything in return i think that's the most pure form of just supported love and the girls in our foundation are not used to that and so it's part of the process to give them a new normal of seeing what real healthy normal looks like and you know it's it's a hard process you know it's it's a lot of these girls come from a lifetime a lifetime of abuse always tell people like for a young 14 year old kid to end up in a hotel room of an

American tourist there's a lot of trauma that has to happen before that comes to pass and every girl that we ever got has been rescued from an American sex tourist just a lot of trauma done do it a lot of trauma to work on but they do want help they recognize that this is not the life that they want to live most people that live in this life for a long time end up dead and so they want out they want help but they just never be able to have the ability to get help. And so when we show up and we offer help totally for free, especially when it comes like education,

because true freedom is not rescuing a girl from an American tourist. True freedom is when you rescue that girl and you give her the power to testify in court, or you give her the power to become self-sufficient economically in a way that's not exploitive. That is what true freedom looks like, and that's what most of our investment goes into.

And you have a staff of mental health experts, or who else is helping these victims. Yeah, you know, we have a great board. My board is awesome. They actually just approved Bonadija, the victims of the Correa case to attend the United Nations with us in the fall as a representative of the nonprofit,

which that really makes me excited because you talk about just how we got this girl, the long process against this monster speaking in federal, and now her traveling to United Nations to represent the nonprofit that's helping me. like the whole story is it's awesome and we have that because we have a great group of just mental health advocates therapists social workers we have great partnerships with some beauty schools

down in columbia with tech schools to get these girls on a path of economics um economics efficiency we have a guy who's he's called our director of justice and he's kind of the linchpin between homeland security investigations the Colombian police and ensure the information the girls that that our girls give us discommunicated to the authorities and then vice versa. Like if there's some kind of news in the case, there's some kind of update, there's some kind of need that law enforcement has that we can help Phil that usually comes through him. And so he's the linchpin that kind of keeps our whole justice portion of the nonprofit together. It's our understanding that the mayor of Medellin tried putting some new rules in place

last year to combat child sexual exploitation, like earlier closing times for bars and bars and restrictions on things like Airbnb's. Do you think things like that actually help? Yeah, I do. I do. And I'm glad that there's a politician that's kind of putting, you know, kind of putting an effort into doing that because, you know, I think Airbnb is very accountable.

They should be accountable to the abuse that our girls have suffered because we did a study last year just where our survivors were, being abused that they were coming to us. And around 600 or so percent of them had reported being abused in an Airbnb. That is what the American traffickers are using to exploit their victims as Airbnb's. And so I think holding that company accountable

in whatever way you can, including on the side of public policy like the mayor did, I think it only helps. I don't know if some of those restrictions are still in place. It's really tough to combat like a culture And through the last few years, you know, there's a news article that labeled Medellin is the biggest brothel in Latin America, which, you know, we totally disagree with. But it attracts a specific type of people that are looking to abuse kids, get away with it, to exploit the vulnerable.

I think, honestly, the best prevention, like, you can put the restrictions on Airbnb, you can hold them accountable. You can close the parks where a lot of, like, the prostitution happens. But I think something like this that happened on Friday is the best prevention. A lot of these people commit these crimes because they think there's not a consequence to doing it that Colombian children are just valued less than American children or you can do it in Columbia and maybe they'll hold you in jail for two years and let you go. But a life sentence, that sends a message of like the Americans are taking this serious, the Colombians are taking this serious, and the days of Americans traveling to abuse kids in the developing world, they're coming to an end. And this really is just a historic sentence. And I feel like this will divert more people to come into Columbia, to commit these kind of crimes and anything else because a life sentence, that's a long time. And this is really the first time that a life sentence has been given to one of these type of people.

Yeah, it's more than just accountability. It's a sense of deterrence, right? It's one of the reasons why we have some sometimes stiff prison sentences. So for our viewers and our listeners who are watching this right now or listening to you, what can they do to help, if anything? Yeah, you know, I think first thing is, I think, visit libretas International.org and make a donation. Become a monthly donor, support our work. Obviously, the work that we do is expensive, having all these girls go to school, travel to testifying core, like they're not expenses that are cheap, but they're expensive that are worth it because it empowers these girls to speak, to take their power back, to speak their truth, and to hold these predators accountable in a way where, you know, two countries were essentially listening. which i which i think is just a monumental moment and so like the first thing i would suggest

people is um if you have the means go to lebertas international lebertas international dot org and make a donation but like if you're passionate about prevention if you're passionate about um awareness if you're if you live in another part of the world another part of the country some amazing anti-trafficking nonprofits all over the country to do some amazing work that could always use things like uh like funding like donations but also things like blankets during the winter, food during the summer, they always have these different needs for the people that they're serving. I always say that's the first thing you can do. That is super cheap way, an easy way is to go on social media, follow Libretas International.org,

give us a share, give us a like, find out about our stuff. We have a podcast that people can listen to to to find out more about like our work in the cases that we do. And I think just, you know, speaking up and raising your voice, I think is the best way. I mean, the reason that's I think what the mayor did was so impactful in a way is that he's starting to name the crime. And when he started to name what was happening that sex tourism is actually illegal, there's a lot of girls that came forward because they didn't know that what was happening to them was actually a crime, which is that a lot, where these girls that come from a lifetime of abuse, they don't know that anything bad is happening because they haven't known anything different.

And so when they're given the words to note, hey, I'm being trafficked, hand I'm being sexually abused, hey, I'm being, you know, whatever. it gives them the voice and the power to speak. And once they speak, good things can happen. But they have to have the words to know what's happening to them. And so just speaking up and sharing, I think, is a great way where we can all use our voice and give a voice back to the ones that are the most vulnerable. Well, I hope everybody can check out the work that you're doing at Libretas International.

It is incredible work that you and the team have been doing, really saving lives. I think is the best way to say it. You might not want all the credit, but I'm going to throw out. out your way, really saving lives doing such important work. So thank you for the service that you're providing. And Tyler Schwab, thank you for taking the time to come here on Sidebar and tell us all about it and also your connection to this unfortunate case, to say the least. I appreciate it. Thank you guys for having me on. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube,

Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.