The Riverside County Sheriff's Department has charged a 25-year-old Corona man with lewd acts with a minor he had communicated via social media, according to a news release.
School employees in La Quinta saw the suspect's vehicle leaving with a 12-year-old girl on Friday, May 19, and managed to grab the license-plate number, Sgt. David Aldrich said in a news release. They gave this info to the Thermal Station deputies who responded 12:36 p.m. to the 78800 block of Avenue in LaQuinta in answer to a report of a 12-year-old girl fleeing school with an adult man, he said.
Just a few hours later, the Thermal Station Special Investigation Unit located the suspect's vehicle at approximately 2:14 p.m. during a canvass of the area and took suspect Joshua Meza into custody without incident, the release said. The suspect vehicle had been returning to the location, Aldrich said.
The investigation later revealed, according to Aldrich, that while the suspect was on school grounds he was armed with a firearm. The gun, however, did not turn up until a subsequent search of this vehicle, Aldrich said.
The juvenile was returned to her parents without injury while Meza was booked at the John Benoit Detention Center for lewd acts with a minor, contacting a minor with the intent to commit a sex crime and possession of a firearm on school grounds.
The Thermal Station Special Investigations Unit, which handled the case, determined "the juvenile was communicating with the suspect via social media," the release said.
Anyone with more information on this incident is asked to contact Investigator Bugarin at 760-863-2585. Alternatively, tips can be reported anonymously via Valley Crime Stoppers at 760-341-7867.
According to palmdesert.gov, this Crime Stoppers program started as a way for citizens who feared retaliation to assist law enforcement. The tips they provide also can be financially rewarding for the callers with a maximum of $2,000 offered when info leads to an arrest, the website said.