A 26-year-old man is in jail facing charges of sexual conduct with a minor following an investigation launched by a Buckeye Police Department school resource officer.

Michael Armijo was arrested Thursday morning after a traffic stop near his Buckeye home, police said. He has been booked into jail on charges of child sex trafficking, luring a minor and sexual conduct with a minor.

On May 16, the officer assigned to Canyon View High School took a report from two female students who said they were in a campus parking lot after school on May 15 “when they saw an unknown male masturbating in the car parked next to them,” according to a Buckeye Police Department release. The students provided descriptions of the suspect and vehicle, and the SRO began coordinating with the Special Victims Unit.

Just before 8 a.m. May 21, the SRO spotted a car matching the description of the suspect vehicle exiting a Canyon View High School parking lot. The SRO pulled over the car and questioned the man driving “who claimed he was dropping off a student,” the release stated.

“He also denied involvement in the indecent exposure incident.”

The SRO cited the driver for a suspended license and issued a trespass notice banning him from campus.

Working with school officials, police said the school resource officer identified and found the student the suspect referenced in the traffic stop. The student, a 15-year-old girl, told investigators the man approached her May 9 when she was leaving school and offered her a ride home. Before taking her home, according to the release, the suspect took her back to a campus parking lot where he had sexual contact with her.

During the investigation, Buckeye police determined the suspect had no connection to the school. Investigators also linked him to one other report of indecent exposure that occurred April 30 outside the Fry’s near Indian School and Jackrabbit, police said.

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