Release Date: May 10, 2007

Contact:

Marc Leventhal, Deputy District Attorney

(805) 662-1715

District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that Robert James Callahan (DOB 05-10-1982), a 25-year-old Arleta resident, pled guilty on May 10, 2007, to a felony charge of child luring. The prosecution of Callahan followed an investigation by the Ventura County Sheriff's Department.

In late October 2006, an adult civilian volunteer and a detective working for the Ventura County Sheriff's Department posed as a 13-year-old girl in an online chat room on an Internet Web site. Callahan initiated contact, and several real-time electronic conversations ensued over a five-day period. During the course of these electronic conversations, Callahan was repeatedly informed that he was chatting with a 13-year-old. Callahan initiated sexual chat, eventually transmitting sexually graphic real-time images of himself to the detective. Later, he agreed to meet for sex. Callahan was provided with a residential address in Thousand Oaks as the location for the meeting. On November 2, 2006, Callahan was stopped in his vehicle and arrested in Thousand Oaks as he approached the meeting location.

Callahan remains free on a $20,000 bond pending his sentencing, which is set for June 21, 2007, in Division 12 at 1:30 p.m. The maximum prison sentence for this violation is four years. Penal Code section 290 mandates that Callahan register as a sex offender as a result of his conviction.