Man who arranged to meet minor in Palm Desert pleads guilty to felony
A Palm Desert man who arranged over the internet to meet what he thought would be a 13-year-old girl for sex pleaded guilty today to a felony.
Marino Aaron Lopez, 31, was originally charged with six felony counts -- two of oral copulation with a person 10 to 14 years old, and one each of contacting a minor with intent to commit a specific crime, arranging to meet with a minor at an arranged time and place, attempting sodomy with a child under 14 years old and attempting unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor under 16 years of age, according to court records.
He was additionally charged with two misdemeanor counts of possessing controlled substances and one of possessing drug paraphernalia. According to court papers, he was allegedly in possession of an unspecified quantity of cocaine and methamphetamine.
On Tuesday, Lopez pleaded guilty at the Larson Justice Center in Indio to arranging to meet with a minor at an arranged time and place.
His sentencing was set for Feb. 3.
Lopez was arrested April 20, 2021, in Palm Desert at the conclusion of an undercover operation orchestrated by the Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, according to Sgt. Jose Tijerina from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. He remains held at the John J. Benoit Detention Center in lieu of $250,000 bail.
Tijerina said that law enforcement personnel posed as a 13-year-old girl on multiple social media platforms during the sting operation that ended up netting Lopez.
Court papers say the conversations took place over nearly two weeks, beginning April 8, 2021, and continuing until the day Lopez was taken into custody.
The suspect "initiated an online conversation with the goal of soliciting a sexual encounter with a 13-year-old minor" and arrived in the 72-900 block of Highway 111 about 7 p.m. to meet her, but he was arrested, according to Tijerina.
According to court papers, Lopez also pleaded guilty Tuesday to being an accessory in an attempted murder case, but details of that case were not immediately available.
