A Saugus man is expected to get eight weekends in jail and register as a sex offender after pleading no contest to arranging to meet a minor for lewd purposes.
Steven Brown, 64, of Saugus, is also receiving five years of felony probation, attend counseling and forfeit his computer, as part of a negotiated plea, said Sarah Ardalani, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office.
A “no contest” plea is the same as guilty except it can’t be cited as an admission of guilt in a subsequent civil court case.
Hahn is due back in court for sentencing on Jan. 8, she added. The case was prosecuted by Samer Hathout.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Sexual Assault and Felony Enforcement, or SAFE, Team deputies, arranged to meet with Brown posing as a victim, said Sgt. Pete Hahn of the SAFE Team.
“He used Craigslist to try and solicit an encounter, and we answered his ad,” Hahn said. “We made it clear that we were a minor.”
Deputies arranged to meet Brown in the San Fernando Valley on May 14, when he was arrested.
The arrested was part of a SAFE Team operation that netted three arrests, but only one of the suspects was from the Santa Clarita Valley.
The SAFE Team is a Sheriff’s Department unit focusing on the victimization of children and Internet crimes, Hahn said. The team operates as part of the Special Victims Bureau.
“We get reports and both reactively from (Internet service providers) and from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” Hahn said, “and we also will go out on the Internet and proactively investigate (sexual predators and crimes against children).”
The team shares resources with the FBI, Hahn said, as one of the SAFE Team members is also on the FBI Innocence Lost Task Force.
Investigators see crimes occur on almost every social media platform and app available, he said, with recent cases coming from the use of everything from Ask.fm to Whisper.
“Even if an app is intended to do good,” Hahn said, “people will figure out a way to do bad with it.”
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11 Comments
Such a broken system.
At a minimum he should have child molester branded on his forehead. What a joke
I say shoot the bastard, no hang ’em then shoot him, just saying.
8 weeks?! That’s it? So….what, he’ll spend like a week in jail….this system is so f’ed up!
8 weekends = 16 days. That’s justice?
8 weekends? How is that even a punishment?
Scumbag
8 weekends is the best our justice system could come up with?! How about 5 minutes alone with the minor’s parents instead……..
Oh that’s justice?! I think NOT
Oh that’s justice?! I think NOT
What the hell is wrong with our system!!!!