PALMDALE – A 55-year-old aerospace worker from the Palmdale area was one of three people arrested during multiple proactive “sting” operations, which targeted predators using the Internet as a means to engage and sexually exploit children, authorities announced.
Joseph Dufrene was arrested after he allegedly advertised to meet a younger female to have “daddy/daughter role play fun”, according to a press report from the Sheriff Department’s Special Victims Bureau.
Dufrene believed he was communicating with a 14-year-old girl and had multiple opportunities to terminate the meeting they arranged, the report states. Dufrene allegedly traveled to a local park “in hopes of meeting a minor for sexual purposes,” the press report states.
At the prearranged meeting location, Dufrene was instead met by detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department – Special Victims Bureau SAFE Team and the Federal Bureau of Investigation SAFE Team Task Force, the report states.
He was arrested around 3 p.m. May 27 and booked in County jail on suspicion of arranging to meet a minor for the purpose of a lewd act. Dufrene was released from custody that night after posting $75,000 bond, according to LASD inmate records.
Dufrene, a 1976 Antelope Valley High School graduate, has worked at The Boeing Company for the past 25 years, according to his Linkedin page. View it here.
The sting operation that busted Dufrene was one of three Child Sexual Exploitation Operations that resulted in arrests.
An operation conducted May 14 nabbed Steven Brown, a 64-year-old computer programmer from the Santa Clarita Valley area who allegedly advertised for a young girl to engage in a sexual liaison, according to the press report.
A third operation, conducted June 4, resulted in the arrest of Ernest Mancuso, a 63-year-old man from the Alhambra area who allegedly advertised to engage a young female in a “daddy/daughter” relationship, the press report states.
The sting operations were conducted in conjunction with Internet Safety Month, which takes place in June. The Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Team conducts online sexual exploitation investigations involving children for the entire LASD jurisdiction.
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Jones says
I think the problem some are having with this is the guy was on an “adult” site and responded to an or placed an ad that was directed to another adult. It states he was believed to be talking with a 14 year old….. But that could be what the “role play was”. An adult female playing the role of a 14 year old wanting “daddy” to play with her….. There are some very kinky roles people play and this is a common one, just like rape fantasy, roles have to be talked about and limits set. Is he met up with the girl and would have clearly seen that it was a real 14 year old and still wanted a sexual contact is one thing, but if they didn’t use a young girl to meet him it did not give him the chance to say “whooo, young lady…. This is role play, not real…. Where is your parents…..” So that is what the courts are for and why some people here are saying don’t jump to a decision….. You might have reservations on what people do for kinky times….. But it does not make you a predator until proven in court.
lee says
It’s sick all the piece of [removed] people who have the nerve to defend the predators of children and even suggest legal help [removed] all u types hope u end up living next to them and something terrible happens bet u won’t be crying about the tactics used then!!!!
Dave says
This was not a normal case. The ad posted said “role play”. With the whole naughty school girl thing and with “Fifty Shades of Grey” the act is very well known. This man took it as just that!!!!
He didn’t seek out a minor or even so much as touch one! If you don’t know all the facts, you shouldn’t be so quick to judge!!
Role play is role play, and if you don’t get it that’s fine but for those of us who do, it’s a healthy and adventurous way to act out and almost always be for the benefit of the woman, which was the case here. There was NO child involved here, it was adult the whole time.
Innocent until proven guilty, have you all forgotten that in your haste to judge by what the papers say?
Eric says
“Dufrene believed he was communicating with a 14-year-old girl and had multiple opportunities to terminate the meeting they arranged”
Sorry to harsh that little growth of yours; he was looking for a child, thought he had one, and rest assured, had he showed at the park and found a young girl there, he probably wouldn’t have had a change of heart. No one was attacking what you do to get your rocks; they were attacking the sick perversion here; pedophilia and incest.
Dave says
Your basing your opinion on what was in the paper, you haven’t read the emails nor do you know the role play scenario here. This was posted on adult website and clearly stated “role play” which is how the conversation started.
I hope you don’t ever get judged first before knowing the facts.
Best if 12 people here all the actual facts and decide who was the victim here.
Persecute the actual offenders who go after kids, definitely!!! As a father and grandfather I agree with you! But not someone sparring back and forth thinking this was an adult in role play.
VRay says
Some advice for those arrested in ICAC Program approved Internet Sex Stings that are still going thru the Court process:
Here is a recommendation for you individuals that truly feel that the ICAC Task Force members conducted an illegal DoJ approved ICAC Program internet sex sting that ENTRAPPED you.
You need to run your case all the way to jury selection and even trial and force your public defenders (PDs) or private defense attorneys (PDAs) to submit every possible Motion (Suppress, Double Jeopardy, Dismiss, Dismiss L&L, Compel (all evidence, ICAC Investigative and Operational Standards employed in the operation, Sting Operational Plan, copies of the operational briefing, copy of the States MOU with DOJ ICAC Program Manager), etc, etc.) to the Court and make the Prosecutor work his ass off until he is so fed up with this that he works with his Boss to offer a good Plea, dismiss or drop charges.
Please, please, don’t take the first Plea offerings. This is what they all want you to do. Many of you have been ENTRAPPED via illegal internet website postings where the Undercover Agents have posted in adult websites and during the conversations, did a “bait and switch” scenario. These ads have been ruled in many States as law enforcement soliciting, luring and enticing innocent law-abiding men who were seeking an No Strings Attached encounter with another adult and had no intention of a sexual contact with a minor.
Ask yourself, “Who is doing the soliciting, Who is doing the luring and enticement, Who is sending a picture of a minor to whom, Who is lying and posing as an adult, Who is asking you to bring condoms, Who is asking you to travel, Who is ignoring your initial “No” or “This is illegal to have sex with a minor” comments and still coercing you to commit, Who is asking you what you would like to do to the minor, Who is making you commit and be descriptive about what you want to do with the minor, Who is asking you for the type of vehicle you are driving, when you are traveling and arriving, Who is calling or texting you back, again, and again, and again, after you do not initially agree to meet them, i.e. the minor or parent of a minor, Who is leading the conversation and bringing up sex with a minor, etc. etc. etc. These are all things that these Undercover Agents are doing which all fall into entrapment – soliciting, luring, enticing, etc. etc. Remember, when you went online to look for an NSA encounter, you did not do this in search of sex with a minor. The Undercover Agent set you up and had the total mission to do the above to stack the numbers and help prove to the Public that they are trapping real Sex Predators and that is the story the Sheriffs are giving the media and public. They are not releasing the rest of the story of their conduct and the illegal actions that they have undertaken to ENTRAP these innocent men.
If you are a real sexual predator, then you need to face your punishment and you have been caught and I applaud the ICAC Task Force for catching you. The Courts will clearly decide this. All others, go fight your cases.
PD and some private defense attorneys (PDA) just don’t want to do all of this work and will recommend against this since they feel that you will get nowhere with it. BS Make them work to support you and if they don’t, dump them. Ask for another PD and don’t pay your PDA and request a refund. Get this wording added to your contract that you sign with the PDA so he knows up front that you are paying him/her to work in your interest, and not that of the Prosecutor or Court. The least amount of time that he/she spends on your case affords them more time to take on other cases. Don’t pay your PDA all the money upfront and don’t agree to a non-refundable amount. Add to the contract how you desire to pay him in Month, Quarterly installments as the case progresses and then the final payment at the end if your case goes to trial. You will see that many will agree to this payment schedule and then you have control of your defense destiny. If the PDA does not want to work with you on this, then keep looking and searching for one that will using the free consultations that most of them offer.
It is just sad to keep hearing that PDs and PDAs won’t do the Motions or have recommended against them, see no value in doing this or that Motion, etc. etc. etc. It is your life, and not theirs. They know that this is additional painstaking, tedious and detailed work and the least that they have to do the better for them as well. Remember, they also have heavy case loads but that is their problem.
This is why many, many, many of them seek to try to convince you that you need to take the Plea bargain, which they feel they have worked well for you and is in your best interest. Don’t get me wrong. There are many, many, many excellent PD & PDAs out there that really care and will bust their butts to work your cases but after reading a lot of the comments from prior defendants, I believe that there are more out there that are just coming to work and don’t want to invest the additional time that you need in your defense.
As these Motions are submitted, the Court is either going to wake up or give in. Remember, both the Prosecutor and the Court as well have to write their responses and that is additional work for both and it starts developing a record of history of how they work, view and decide on these type of cases. They will make case law mistakes that will work to your benefit during the Appeal Process.
One day when all of this blows up in their faces, the evidence of their impartiality will be documented and that can then be presented to interest groups, the media, etc. etc. They can never claim that they did not know what was happening and that they were part of the problem which they allowed to continue.
My recommendation is to force the system to work for you. If you really feel that you were ENTRAPPED by the Undercover Agents assigned to this ICAC Task Force, then don’t throw in the towel but rather, defend yourself and use the legal system to the fullest extent. Force our PD or PDA to write, file, and argue your Motions and make the Prosecutor and Judges have to research and provide justifiable response and decisions.
Take your case all the way to jury selection and even trial if the Plea that you are willing to live with is not offered.
By submitting all of these Motions and having them denied by the Court, you have the right to then Appeal to a higher court. The Appellate Judges are as well going to wake up when they start seeing so many appeals and they will as well evidentially get sick and tired of this.
Force the legal system to work for you, not against you.
SurrealKiller says
I personally am having a hard time dealing with the massive amount of people that are in this thread, trying to somehow deflect a very serious crime with complaints about the government. Sheriffs departments everywhere work with The F.B.I on a regular basis for these sting operations. Yes, there is a specialty team in the F.B.I. whose main focus is to catch child predators. There are many issues with our government, but shame on you for taking away from one of the few good things that we have going in our system…THE CHILD PREDATOR STING OPERATIONS.
sandcanyongal says
Thank you. A human with sanity. Only sexual predators think the sheriffs are wrong to flush out pervert. I wonder if any of the commentors have ever witnessed a child being sodomized by a grown man. The rest of us would pummel the person to the ground and stomp them.
Bob says
A sexuall precator living in the AV??!! How unusual.
David says
What these men attempted to do was wrong. But what the gov’t is doing is worse. Next thing the cashier at the grocery store will give you the wrong change and when you walk out the door you’ll be arrested for theft. Or a child will ask you to help find their parent and when you try to help you’ll be arrested for kidnapping. Entrapment ain’t what it used to be.
@David says
Your thoughts process is SICK. How do you compare a cashier giving incorrect change with arranging sex with a CHILD, SMH. That is DISGUSTING
DAvid says
My point has nothing to do with it being a sex crime. Our police are going out offering all kinds of illegal and disgusting services in the hopes they can manipulate someone to cross the line. It’s like making a sale. As this practice has expanded to include more and more crimes so it will continue to expand. You may be next. On to the next poor fool.
Red says
@David, protecting our children is one of our highest priorities, so sex crimes is the point, in the real world. Predators deserve our special attention.
sandcanyongal says
Only people who are interested in daddy/child sex would respond to these advertisements. Have you ever seen “To catch a predator?” These are men who can’t wait to act out their fantasies on kids. This is the kind of trash that law enforcement is attempting to get off the streets.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/16/julio-iturralde-jasmin-davis-baby-rape_n_5500530.html
Uncle Tom says
“Dufrene believed he was communicating with a 14-year-old girl and had multiple opportunities to terminate the meeting they arranged…”
He was not forced. He was given multiple opportunities to have second thoughts, grow a conscience, do the right thing, and in the end he continued along a path that led him to where he is at now. Nobody forced him.
By your logic, if an under aged person offered you sex, its not your fault for taking them up on the offer! They obviously trapped you right? Same goes for any crime. Some stranger tells you “Hey, I got a gun, lets for rob that store real fast”, so you do, get caught and try to use the excuse “Well it wasn’t my idea, I just went along with HIM. Blame him! He didn’t force me, but if he never put the idea in my head I would not have done it!”
Doesn’t work that way bub.
Red says
This is a situations very difficult to be entrapped into, if even possible. I feel confident this is a situation, I couldn’t be “entrapped” into this.
Eric says
Entrapment is entirely out the window. The police didn’t post an ad; they likely weren’t taking the “charge” in the conversation either. This all falls on the skeeve, he should be thankful Chris Hanson wasn’t there to televise it.
Sick; not just incest themed, pedophilia as well.
Nancy P says
How was this entrapment exactly? The guy was advertising for Daddy-Daughter action. How is that entrapment? He got caught. I would bet (if I were a gambler), that there is plenty of evidence of his perversion on his computer or in his home. How (again) is being caught considered entrapment?
bird says
David—You seem to know something about entrapment, so is there something you want to share?
David says
People make personal attacks when they don’t have a legitimate point of view. Although we’re spending millions looking for predators. Our government has become a bigger predator. At this point it’s hard to believe anyone is “advertising” for underage sex. This pretending to be a potential victim draws people who wouldn’t normally act criminally over the line. The DUI stops take cars away from people without licenses keeping them from being able to work, take their children to school or even go shopping. We are so trained to distrust every other group of people that most are happy at their misfortune. Today people are being arrested for protesting for immigration reform. Yesterday more children at a school were shot. In each case the government has either taken action against its own citizens or refused to take action to protect us. As you are not speaking out for others who will be left to speak out for you?
These are discussions we should be having so that with civil discourse things can improve. I expect our government to treat everyone with basic human decency and we should treat each other with kindness. Although this isn’t always the case it’s a good thing to consider and work towards.
Red says
@David, nothing personal at all, I get that there is government over reach at times. They advertised for service, didn’t wander into Stater Bros so that comparison doesn’t work for me. More importantly this is children being protected against predators, this is exactly what I want my law enforcement doing, not waiting till it happens. If you place an ad like the gentlemen did, do you have an expectation of privacy?
@ David says
So someone without a license, which by the way means NO insurance should be able to drive to work and drive their children to school and RISK an “accident” which they won’t be able to pay for. And what if they seriously hurt someone or worse kill someone? That’s fare for us law abiding citizens. How is it entrapment when these perverts are getting on KNOWN child porn websites? It’s entrapment because they get caught? You have a twisted sense of reality David. You seem to have an issue with the government doing their job.
David says
I’m not the first person to be concerned when our police create “traps” motivating people to break the law. They call it a sting inducing people that might not cross the line to step toward their doom.
Let’s not pretend there isn’t a large group of people living among us that due to poverty, temporary setbacks, past actions or the accident of birth are unable to obtain a drivers license. Based on that I think taking away someone’s freedom is way over the line and taking their or someone else’s vehicle is cruel.
When the hammer hits you on the head you may change your mind. Consider building up our society instead of tearing down people who are struggling.
And no, what I’m talking about is much greater than an individual predator. It seems our police, at least in this aspect, have become their own special kind of predator.
Nancy P says
Sometimes you have to think like a predator to catch one. These men are entitled to their disgusting thoughts as long as they don”t act on them. (their choice) Regardless of how they got to that decision, they chose to attempt to hookup with underage girls.
Adults engaging in, or attempting to engage in sexual behavior with a child=perv=jail. No one told them to seek attention from children or asked them to try to arrange a hookup with a child.
People should not be breaking the law.
That includes driving without a license. How would you like to be hit by an unlicensed driver with a car load of kids? The kids are being dropped off at a family members home so the driver can go to work? Not so bad? Now, maybe that crash killed your wife and kids. Still think it’s okay for them to be driving around?
No license=No car. No insurance=No car
David says
My last comment on this one. People, open your eyes. While we spend millions looking for predators on the net, according to statistics (reality) we should be looking at family pictures on the wall. I think it’s 93% of all sexual molestations are perpetrated by a family member or close family friend. And I would guess that a great majority of people killed in car accidents are victims of licensed drivers.
It’s our freedom that’s at risk. Each and every one of us. And like criminals, our government will continue expanding its policies until people speak out against them or find themselves on the wrong side of some new law. And even then…
Most people who support bullies do so because they don’t want the bully to pick on them. Just a thought.
Tim says
I was reading in the world times that America is doing a deal with Thailand and the U,K
To store their sex offenders in our jails for a fee.
PREDATORS should have NO CHANCES says
@OT.. apparently you didn’t read where the article says Dufrene graduated from AV HIGH SCHOOL IN 1976. I think that suggests he’s NOT from Compton. There is SICK people BORN and RAISED in Lancaster. Stop blaming other cities for the sick twisted Lancaster population. SMH
OT says
Good Lord! Get a grip! You didn’t get the sarcasm, pointing out the guy was OBVIOUSLY not a minority from Compton?
OT says
Damn Ghetto trash coming up here from Compton and trashing our….err….oops!
wally p says
Lol you ain’t right. But you right!
No He is Wrong says
Sorry but wally p, but OT is not right, He is wrong. nothing states Compton, it does state he worked in Long Beach but he did graduate from Antelope Valley High School 1972 – 1976
Nancy P says
Did you guys miss the “…err…oops”, at the end of his comment? I think @OT was being sarcastic and he made a great point. Creeps are born everyday, everywhere, even the AV.
Saints says
All this freaking predators should be persecuted to the full extent of the law…