Convicted sex offender tries to meet up with 13-year-old he met on Reddit, feds say

A convicted sex offender in California is accused of trying to meet up with a 13-year-old he met on Reddit, federal officials said.

Shaw Warrington, 34, of San Juan Capistrano, was on Reddit when he met an agent posing as a 13-year-old, according to a May 23 news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

The agent posing as the 13-year-old responded to Warrington’s requests and planned to meet at a Newport Beach shopping center, “where Warrington believed he would engage in criminal sexual activity,” prosecutors said.

After getting to the shopping center, Warrington was arrested, officials said. Information for Warrington’s attorney was not immediately available as of May 24.

Evidence showed Warrington solicited sex acts from minors on Reddit in Orange County during January and February 2023, officials said.

After seizing his phone, officers found two images of child sexual abuse material, prosecutors said.

During a search of Warrington’s home, officials found a gun and more than 350 rounds of ammunition, officials said.

Due to his 2013 conviction of meeting a minor with the intent to engage in lewd conduct and having to register a sex offender, Warrington is not allowed to own guns, officials said.

Warrington pleaded not guilty to attempted enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, attempted production of child pornography, commission of a felony offense involving a minor while required to register as a sex offender, possession of child pornography and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, prosecutors said.

If convicted, Warrington faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison, officials said.

Of those 25 years, he faces “15 years for the attempted production of child pornography count and a 10-year mandatory consecutive sentence for commission of a felony involving a minor while required to register as a sex offender,” officials said.

Warrington is scheduled to reappear in court in July, officials said.

San Juan Capistrano is about a 55-mile drive southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

This story was originally published May 24, 2024 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Convicted sex offender tries to meet up with 13-year-old he met on Reddit, feds say."