The United States Attorney's Office

MAN INDICTED FOR USING SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES TO MEET MINORS, HAVE SEX AND TAKE PORNOGRAPHIC PICTURES

A San Gabriel Valley man was indicted today for allegedly using social networking sites on the Internet to convince high school-age girls to have sex with him and pose for pornographic pictures.

Gregory Scott Serrano, 33, of Monrovia, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on charges of production of child pornography, using the Internet to entice minors to produce child pornography and to meet for sex, receipt of child pornography, possession of child pornography and attempted destruction of evidence. The indictment lists 10 teenage girls as victims. However, authorities believe there are other girls who may have been victimized by Serrano.

The investigation into Serrano began in March after a 15-year-old girl reported that Serrano had taken pornographic photographs of her. According to court documents, Serrano posed as a 19-year-old and contacted the teenager after reading her profile on netlog.com and MySpace.com. After courting her via emails and cellular telephone conversations, Serrano pressed the teenager to meet him in person. After convincing her to sneak out of her house while her parents were asleep, Serrano picked her up in his car and took her back to his home. There, he allegedly offered her alcohol, engaged in sex with her and took pornographic pictures of her.

After the 15-year-old girl told her parents about several contacts with Serrano, the girl’s parents called police. The Monrovia Police Department, along with investigators on the FBI’s Sexual Assault and Felony Enforcement Task Force (SAFE Team), executed a search warrant at Serrano’s home on March 12.

According to the indictment, Serrano selected victims, including the 15-year-old girl, from social networking sites such as MyYearbook.com, MySpace.com and Netlog.com. The FBI suspects that Serrano communicated with additional teenagers who have yet to be identified. Serrano used various screen names, including Greg Scott, Purein10citi, citigreg1116, serranogreg and latinoload1116. Anyone with information about Serrano’s activities is asked to the contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation at (310) 477-6565.

The indictment alleges that after he was arrested on March 12, Serrano contacted a family member and requested that the family member retrieve and hide a compact disk that was hidden inside a rollerblade in Serrano’s basement. The FBI recovered the compact disk and determined that it contained logs of email conversations between Serrano and his teenage victims, as well as child pornography depicting these young teens.

The federal charge of production of child pornography carries a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence and a maximum statutory sentence of 30 years. The charge of using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct carries a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence and a potential sentence of life without parole.  The charge of receiving child pornography carries a five-year mandatory minimum sentence and a potential sentence of 20 years. The charge of possession of child pornography carries a potential sentence of 10 years. The charge of attempted destruction of evidence caries a potential sentence of 20 years.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.

Serrano is currently in state custody after being charged with various child molestation offenses. He is scheduled to be arraigned in the state case in Pasadena Superior Court on June 6.

The case against Serrano was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Sexual Assault and Felony Enforcement Task Force (SAFE Team) and the Monrovia Police Department.

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