SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Luis Rios used to work inside a jail but on Friday it was the former San Diego Sheriff’s sergeant who was sitting in shackles.
Rios made a virtual court appearance from jail and plead not guilty to three charges stemming from an undercover sting operation last year set up by a vigilante group known as People V. Preds.
Rios was charged last month with attending an arranged illicit meeting with a minor, contact of a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense and arranging to meet a minor for lewd/lascivious behavior.
The group set up fake accounts posing as 15-year-old boys on Grindr, a gay chat app, and filmed Rios in a McDonald’s parking lot where someone behind the decoy account set up a meeting.
In court documents obtained by ABC 10News earlier this week, a San Diego Police officer alleged Rios continued to chat with two people he thought were 15 years old.
Even after learning the minors’ age, Officer Crystal Duerr said Rios still initiated chats and different meetings.
Screenshots of the conversations are included in a declaration in support of an arrest warrant and are explicit and sexual in nature.
Deputy District Attorney Franciesca Balerio is prosecuting the case and said Rios is not being treated differently because he is former law enforcement.
“Our office treats every person that comes through our office whether that be a defendant, a victim, a witness equally in the sense that we take charges especially against minors in San Diego County very seriously.”
She said Rios faces up to four years in prison if he is convicted on the charges.
His bail was set at $125,000 and he is due back in court later this month.
