Registered Sex Offender Lures out Teenage Girls in Online Chat room

Fresno, CA (KFSN) -- Investigators say a Del Rey man and a partner used an internet chat room to lure two girls back to a trailer. 49-year old Richard Bustamonte was in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to 2 counts of sexual assault of a juvenile.

He's already a registered sex offender and deputies warn this crime should be a reminder to parents to always monitor your kid's online activity.

Early Saturday morning two girls ages 15 and 16 ran from a trailer home off of American Ave. near Del Rey and ended up at a nearby intersection. They told deputies they were running from Richard Bustamonte a man they met in an online chat room.

"This is your typical horror story about young girls on a chat room, meeting people they talk to on a chat room and then being a victim of a crime," said Deputy Chris Curtice.

Curtice says Bustamonte, a registered sex offender and another man, picked up these girls in Kingsburg and brought them back to his Del Rey home where he drugged and raped the 15 year old. But when deputies arrived at Bustamonte's home he was the only one there.

"How they (Bustamonte's accomplice) left is a little unclear right now but Mr. Bustamonte was the only one arrested in this sexual assault," said Curtice.

No more than 200 yards from Bustamonte's home live the Komoto's. They have two granddaughters living with them ages 15 and 5-years old. Diane Komoto said she's seen Bustamonte helping his father in the fields before but said she never had a clue he was a registered sex offender.

"It really makes you think, start looking around because you don't know what else is out there that you're not aware of just like we weren't aware of that," said Komoto.

Deputies could not comment on whether or not a computer was found inside Bustamonte's home. He's expected back in court by the end of July.

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