A pharmaceutical technician arrested in 2006 during a headline-making Internet sting for seeking sex with a 13-year-old girl must finish serving his six month term in the Orange County jail, a Superior Court judge ruled today.
Robert Carlos Alarcia, 32, Los Angeles, was convicted by a jury in April 24, 2007 of felony attempted lewd act on a child under the age of 14, and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge David Hoffer to 180 days in jail.
He surrendered to begin serving his sentence two weeks ago after his appeals were turned down. His attorney filed a motion seeking his release, claiming that the Orange County Probation Department did not properly consider his bid to serve his sentence under home confinement.
Hoffer rejected that motion with elaboration today.
Alarcia was arrested after he engaged in an explicit sexual conversation over the Internet with a person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl in February 2006. But he actually was exchanging messages with a citizen volunteer from Perverted-Justice.com, a group aimed at protecting children from Internet sexual predators.
Alarcia exchanged explicit messages with the volunteer discussing sexual positions, marijuana use, and arranging to meet the child for sex, prosecutors said.
He then dove from Los Angeles to Laguna Beach -- with condoms in his car and a pornographic movie in his jacket -- with the expectation of meeting the fictitious young girl for a sexual rendezvous.
He was met instead by Laguna Beach police detectives. He was one of 13 men arrested during the well-publicized internet sting.
Hoffer initially recommended home confinement for Alarcia in March 2009, but the probation department -- which has discretionary authority to approve electronic monitoring and home confinement -- considered and denied the judge’s recommendation, according to the DA’s Office.
Of the 13 men arrested during the sting, 11 have been convicted and sentenced to jail time ranging from six months to 18 months. Two cases are pending.
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