Albuquerque Public Schools bus attendant accused of possessing child rape videos

Prosecutors have filed a motion to keep an Albuquerque Public School bus attendant behind bars after he was accused of possessing videos of children being raped.

Patrick Bilbo, 32, who worked as a special needs bus attendant for APS, was arrested and charged with one count of possessing child pornography and two counts of distributing child pornography. He was arrested and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Friday.

“Although the defendant has no sexual offenses, the defendant’s actions show (a) proclivity towards children and that he has a sexual interest in a child under the age of 16,” according to a pretrial detention motion.

Bilbo does not yet have an attorney and his family declined to comment.

“We are deeply disturbed by the charges brought against Patrick Bilbo,” APS spokesman Martin Salazar said in an email to the Journal. “We became aware of the criminal case against him Friday and immediately began the process of placing him on administrative leave. He was taken into custody by authorities at our west side transportation center Friday morning.”

Bilbo was hired as a bus attendant in September 2024, at which time he underwent and passed a background check, Salazar said. Bus attendants accompany bus drivers and assist with loading and unloading passengers and securing wheelchairs, among other duties. They do not drive buses.

APS did not receive any reports of inappropriate behavior involving Bilbo while he worked as a bus attendant, Salazar said.

The New Mexico Department of Justice began investigating Bilbo in April after receiving multiple CyberTips indicating the possible possession of child sexual abuse material associated with accounts operating on the Kik messaging platform, according to a news release from the NMDOJ.

According to the initial report received by the NMDOJ, Bilbo had a 1-minute-long video on Kik of a child being raped. “All pedophiles should rape kids,” was watermarked at the top of the video and “#pedopride” was at the bottom, the complaint states.

The messaging app reported Bilbo’s IP address, and NMDOJ agents issued a warrant to find out where the address was linked to. Multiple email addresses and Kik accounts associated with the address were found, the complaint states.

NMDOJ was sent four additional tips, dated between August 2024 and March 2025, from the same IP address. Roughly six months later, NMDOJ was again sent seven reports of Bilbo sharing sexually explicit videos of children, according to the complaint.

Kik reported that Bilbo had shared the videos on the app, the complaint states. In total, Bilbo had over 72 child sexual abuse videos between his accounts.

NMDOJ obtained a search warrant for Bilbo’s home and his personal devices and Bilbo was arrested at the APS bus depot on the West Side of Albuquerque.

Bilbo confirmed that the two emails belonged to him, according to the complaint. When agents asked if he had ever used Kik, Bilbo declined and requested to speak with a lawyer.