A 34-year-old San Juan Capistrano convicted sex offender who allegedly attempted to solicit sex online from someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl was indicted Thursday on five felony counts by a grand jury, federal prosecutors said.
In early 2023, Shaw Warrington allegedly tried to use the forum and social network site Reddit to solicit sex from minors in Orange County. An undercover officer pretending to be a 13-year-old responded to the man’s request and scheduled to meet him at a shopping center in Newport Beach, where Warrington was arrested upon arrival, according to the indictment.
Warrington was arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana and pleaded not guilty to the five felony charges, including one count of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of attempted production of child pornography, the Department of Justice said in a statement.
Two images of child sexual abuse material were reportedly found on Warrington’s cellphone and a firearm with more than 350 rounds of ammunition was discovered in his residence. He is not allowed to possess firearms due to a felony conviction in 2013 that required him to register as a sex offender.
If convicted on all felony counts, Warrington faces a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison, the Department of Justice said in a news release.
