A criminal defense attorney, Arturo Fernando Gutierrez III, 36, was arrested last Saturday by the Orange County Exploitation Task Force. The Ventura County attorney was allegedly attempting to meet up with an underage girl for sex, and as a result, was arrested via a sting operation that was conducted at Seal Beach.
The report asserted that the task force began investigating the case on October 16, 2012 after a female minor was found engaging in online communications with several men, both in California and other states. This November the Task Force began communications with Mr. Gutierrez via Facebook and ultimately agreed to arrange a meeting with the victim “for sexual purposes” this past Saturday at the Seal Beach Pier.
Mr. Gutierrez has been booked on charges of engaging in communications with a minor, intending to commit a lewd act, and arraigning to meet a minor for a lewd act. Immediately following Mr. Gutierrez’s arrest a search warrant was served at his Ventura County home; bail was set at $50,000.
Additionally, the department released a statement saying that, “Based on additional information, the task force believes there may be additional minor victims that Gutierrez has communicated or engaged with.”
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Opinion — The irony of course is that a defense attorney is the one who was caught in this crime. One of the things I often wonder as a criminal defense attorney is how good I would be at committing crime. As a defense attorney, you see where your clients went wrong and you think, “Ok, I would’ve done things this way …”. This guy knows how these internet stings work and he still gets caught! I feel bad for his former clients and, of course, for the fake female minors. (Internet stings of this nature often involve adults posing as minors. See “To Catch a Predator” for a good example of how these things work).