Recent Posts in Sex With a Minor/Child Category

Recently, a Los Angeles County child abuse investigator was arrested for sex crimes.  The investigator, 45 year old Rod Carter, was arrested for suspicion of having sex with a 15 year old girl this past Sunday.  After paying bail, Carter was released from police custody.

According to Lt. Dan Keil, police found Carter and the victim having intercourse in a parked car.  They are still trying to determine if the girl was a prostitute or not.

At the time of the incident, the county Department of Children and Family Services say Carter was not on duty.  They also say that the 15 year old is not involved in the child welfare system. On Thursday, Carter refused to comment on the arrest.  He did say that he will be fired and has no plans to contest his termination because it is appropriate given the allegations.

Have you been charged with sex crimes involving a minor?  Now is the time to secure representation from a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney.  Simply contact Okabe & Haushalter now!

On Thursday, federal authorities were looking for victims they believe may have been molested by a former Fort Irwin Army soldier.  The soldier, 23 year old Joseph Scott Szymanski, was charged with possessing child pornography and also illegal sexual contact with children.

In June, police arrested Szymanski in Fairbanks, Alaska. Prior to his arrest, Szymanski was charged in federal court in Riverside County with possessions illicit photographic images of several children.  Police say that the children were babysat by Szymanski while he lived in Fort Irwin.

The FBI said that they found a memory card that contained sexual images of underage boys engaged in sex acts.  They were able to link Szymanski to the images by the furniture and other items displayed in the photos.

If you have been charged with sex crimes involving children, it is imperative that you hire a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer immediately.  Contact the Okabe & Haushalter to speak with a defense attorney.

Authorities have arrested a rabbi in Gilbert, Arizona accused of raping a 7-year-old girl a decade ago.

Because the alleged crime occurred in New York City, U.S. Marshals and detectives from the New York Police Department were assigned to the case. They arrested Rabbi Bryan Bramley outside Temple Beth Shalom Synagogue in Gilbert.

The victim claims she was raped while spending the night at Bramley's family home in New York when she was just 7 years old. But it wasn't until last summer when the victim, now 17, finally came forward to report the incident.

Bramley is being held in the Maricopa County Jail in Arizona pending his extradition to New York City. If convicted of the charges, Bramley could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison, thousands of dollars in fines, probation, and mandatory registration as a sex offender for life.

Aggressive Sex Crimes Defense Lawyers Serving Los Angeles

If you or a loved one has been accused of rape or statutory rape, you can trust a Los Angeles sex crimes attorney at Okabe & Haushalter to vigorously fight your charges. We understand that felony sex crimes that like statutory rape must be aggressively defended from all angles, and are committed to doing whatever is legally necessary to ensure our clients are provided with the strongest defense possible. With your rights, freedom, and reputation on the line, trust your case to a law firm that not only has a great deal of criminal defense experience, but that also has helped countless successfully overcome their charges.

Contact Okabe & Haushalter today at (310) 543-7708 to schedule a consultation to discuss your case!

Last month, the manager of a bowling alley in Arizona pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography and engaging in indecent acts with a minor.

After entering his plea, 36-year-old William O’Rourke was handcuffed and taken into custody. He is scheduled to be sentenced for his crimes on March 26 in Pima County Superior Court before Judge Howard Fell.

O’Rourke faces between 10 and 24 years in prison just for the child pornography charge. He is likely to face additional years in prison for the indecent sexual activity with a 12-year-old boy. But even if O’Rourke is on his best behavior, the judge told him that prison is 100% certain, meaning it is unlikely he’ll be able to get any time off for good behavior.

As you can see, judges take child pornography charges extremely seriously. If you have been accused of possessing child pornography in Los Angeles or South Bay, nothing is more important than speaking with a knowledgeable criminal defense lawyer right away. At Okabe & Haushalter, we devote a large portion of our practice to child pornography and sex crimes defense, and have the experience, knowledge and resources to provide anyone facing these types of charges with the effective representation they need during this unsettling time.

To learn more about our criminal defense, please do not hesitate to contact a Los Angeles child pornography defense attorney at our office today!

An Anaheim man is in police custody after luring a minor into a hotel and raping her.

The suspect, 33-year-old Matthew Martinez Casteneda, allegedly used the social networking site MySpace to convince the 12-year-old girl to meet him at the South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa.

According to Anaheim police, Casteneda took the girl to Zaby’s Motor Lodge where he raped her. After they had sex, Casteneda left the victim at the hotel stranded without her bus pass. Police say she was able to flag down a civilian police traffic controller for help.

The victim didn’t reveal what happened right away. What had occurred in the hotel room was only revealed after police connected the girl to a missing persons report.

A former gymnastics coach has been convicted of having an unlawful sexual relationship with a 16 year old girl.

According to Orange County prosecutors, 37-year-old Jason Wayne Scofield met the girl while working as a coach at Wildfire Gymnastics in Tustin. His sexual relationship with the teen lasted from February 2009 through the end of June 2009.

The girl’s parents alerted police after receiving a concerned e-mail from one of their daughter’s friends. At the time police were notified, Scofield had already quite his job at the gym and joined the Army. He was living in Arizona when investigators came looking for him.

After obtaining a warrant, police went to Arizona to arrest Scofield and bring him back to Orange County to face his charges. He pleaded guilty to the felony charges and will likely be sentenced to one year in jail and three years probation. A judge has scheduled his sentencing hearing for March 30.

A man will stand trial in Los Angeles after admitting to the FBI that he paid to have sex with a 14-year-old girl and several other children in Cambodia.

Michael Dodd, 59, is accused of traveling overseas to have sex with a minor. Dodd was in Cambodia teaching English when he was arrested by Cambodian authorities in 2008. A Cambodian court convicted Dodd of having a sexual relationship with the 14-year-old girl.

He has since been turned over to the U.S. and is now back on U.S. soil.  It has not yet been reported when Dodd’s U.S. trial is scheduled to be begin.

A man suspected of molesting at least four young girls in the Westlake area was recently caught and arrested.

For more than two years police have been searching for Daniel Merino, 41. Merino was accused of approaching at least four girls, each around the age of 9 or 10, and then sexually assaulting them. According to police, all four girls were walking alone when Merino approached them. After starting up a conversation Merino would then try to lure the girls into a car or building or would sexually assault them as they were walking.

Police were able to track down Merino after video surveillance caught him trying to leave a building after attempting to molest a victim. The image was circulated and, using a high-tech license plate scanner, police were able to track Merino’s location.

Merino was arrested and charged with kidnapping for sexual assault. He is being held on $4 million bail. If he is convicted of the charges he could be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, as well as be ordered to register as a sex offender, probably for the rest of his life.

A Victorville man faces felony sex crime charges after police discovered him partially naked with a 12-year-old girl.

Efrain Cruz, 26, was arrested on Sunday after police spotted his vehicle on the side of the road and found him inside with the girl, who was also partially undressed. The officers said they noticed the vehicle after seeing a two-year-old boy in the back seat of the car.

Cruz and the girl, whose name has not been released, were in the front seat with the same articles of clothing removed.

Cruz has since been arrested on suspicion of sex crimes with a child.

Cruz was introduced to the girl when her mother began dating his stepfather.  According to police he has been picking up the girl from school and visiting her on a regular basis. The girl’s mother had no idea her daughter and Cruz were engaged in any type of sexual contact.

A Nebraska woman is facing felony charges after her 15-year-old son told his counselor that she used to have sex with him nightly when he was in 7 ^th and 8 ^th grade.

The boy, now 15, said his mother was addicted to prescription drugs during the years she would have sex with him.

The woman, whose name has not been revealed to protect her son, was arrested Monday and booked in Douglas County Court. Her bond was set at $30,000. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for February 8.

Court records show the woman is no stranger to the courtroom.  This time last year she pleaded no contest to intentionally violating narcotics laws for trying to fill multiple prescriptions from seven different doctors. She was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to attend AA meetings as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

Statutory Rape

Any time an adult engages in sexual activity with a minor (someone under the age of 18) it is considered statutory rape. It does not matter whether the sexual acts were consensual or non-consensual. If you have sex with a minor, you will be charged with statutory rape.

At Okabe & Haushalter, we are committed to defending the rights of those accused of statutory rape and other sex crimes in Los Angeles and South Bay. If you are interested in learning more about our aggressive defense services, please contact Okabe & Haushalter today to schedule a consultation with an experienced Los Angeles sex crime defense lawyer at the firm!