LOS ANGELES – A Norwalk man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for using the internet as part of his efforts to solicit a 15-year-old girl to have sex.

Mauricio Edgardo Estrada, 29, who at the time of the offense was a police officer with the Los Angeles Unified School District, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer.

Estrada pleaded guilty in June to one count of using the internet to transmit information about a minor in connection with criminal sexual activities.

The case against Estrada was the result of an undercover operation by the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes representatives of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigation (HSI), the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service. The Task Force was conducting an anti-sex trafficking operation in Artesia and posted an advertisement on the Craigslist website that was designed to attract individuals interested in engaging in commercial sex acts with minors.

On April 20, 2016, Estrada responded to the advertisement via e-mail and subsequently engaged in a series of text messages with an undercover agent he thought was a 15-year-old girl, according to court documents. Estrada agreed to pay $150 to engage in sex with the “girl.” When he arrived at a gas station in Artesia for the encounter with the “girl,” Estrada had condoms and approximately $150 in his possession.

The case against Estrada was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lana Morton-Owens of the Violent and Organized Crime Section

Component(s): USAO – California, Central

Contact: Thom Mrozek Spokesperson/Public Affairs Officer United States Attorney's Office Central District of California (Los Angeles) 213-894-6947

Press Release Number: 17-210 Updated November 21, 2017

Central District of California DOJ / 17-210 / November 20, 2017