Photo courtesy of the Riverside District Attorney’s Office.Forty-two-year-old John Francis Downs of Riverside was arrested on Friday by the DA’s Bureau of Investigation-led SAFE/ICAC task force and charged with four felonies, including contacting a minor to commit specific crimes and arranging to meet a minor to engage in lewd behavior.
Downs is accused of contacting someone he believed to be an underage girl on a cell phone app and arranging to meet her, according to the DA’s office. When Downs arrived at the meeting location, he was met by investigators who arrested him.
Downs pled not guilty. His next court date is set for November 11, jail records show.
The SAFE/ICAC task force works in partnership with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the Beaumont, Murrieta, and Riverside police departments, California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Marshals Service. The task force is an affiliate with the San Diego SAFE/ICAC.
For more information about the task force or sex offender information and internet safety tips, visit www.rivcosafe.org.
