Ex-Deputy Pleads Guilty in Net Sex Case
A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty Monday to using the Internet to solicit sex with an undercover FBI agent masquerading as a 13-year-old girl.
Steven Eugene Brown, 41, who worked out of the Lancaster sheriff’s station, probably faces an 18-month prison sentence under terms of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.
Brown has been in custody since Oct. 8, when he showed up at the Westside Pavilion shopping mall for an expected meeting with the girl.
Prosecutors said Brown initiated sexually explicit conversations with the undercover agent in an Internet chat room for about a month before the meeting.
He also encouraged her to skip school that day so they could go to a motel to have sex, the government alleged.
In exchange for his guilty plea, the prosecution agreed to drop a second charge of possessing child pornography. Brown will be sentenced April 24 by U.S. District Judge Margaret Morrow.
A Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Brown resigned after his arrest. As a convicted felon, he can no longer work in law enforcement.
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