Deputy Enters Plea in Internet Sex Case
A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy accused of using the Internet to meet someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl for sex pleaded not guilty Monday, authorities said.
Steven Brown, 41, a patrol deputy with the Palmdale station, appeared at a hearing in U.S. District Court, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.
Brown allegedly sent sexually explicit messages to an undercover FBI agent who posed as “Laura,” a teenage girl. According to an FBI criminal complaint, Brown also allegedly sent “Laura,” a self-described eighth-grader with blond hair, blue eyes and a slim figure, a sexually explicit photograph and suggested a tryst at a hotel.
Brown was arrested Oct. 8 at a West Los Angeles mall, where he allegedly tried to meet the girl in person for the first time.
He is being held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
His trial is set for Dec. 14, Mrozek said.
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