A retired California Highway Patrol lieutenant was convicted today of trying to have sex with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl who was actually an adult undercover officer.
Stephen Robert Deck, 55, a Carlsbad resident who spent 23 years with the CHP, was found guilty of one felony count of attempted lewd acts on a child under 14, the Orange County district attorney's office said.
StephenDeck Deck was among 13 men swept up in a 2006 undercover sting by the Laguna Beach Police Department.
He initially had conversations over the Internet with a person he believed was a 13-year-old girl. He was in fact communicating with an adult volunteer from Perverted-Justice.com, a nonprofit organization that works with law enforcement nationwide to catch Internet sexual predators, prosecutors said.
Deck continued online communications and phone calls with an undercover officer who sounded young, authorities said. He made graphic sexual comments, including a statement about eating pie, according to prosecutors.
After arranging to meet the girl, Deck showed up at a Laguna Beach apartment with a key lime pie and a digital camera, prosecutors said. He was arrested at the scene.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 22 at the Santa Ana courthouse. He could serve up to four years in state prison.
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