RIVERSIDE – A registered sex offender from Azusa faces felony charges after he attempted to meet with a person he believed to be a teenager, who was actually an undercover investigator with the Riverside County Child Exploitation Team (RCCET).

In September 2025, Victor Gabriel Perez, DOB: 9-19-80, of Azusa, began communicating through a social media platform with an investigator posing as a 13-year-old girl.

Communication continued until Nov. 4 when Perez arrived at an agreed upon location to have sex and perform other sexual acts with the suspected minor girl. Perez was subsequently arrested by members of RCCET and booked at the Robert Presley Detention Center.

He was a registered sex offender prior to this arrest.

Perez appeared in court Nov. 6, where he pled not guilty to all charges.

He is charged with:

• Attempted child molestation
• Arranging to meet with a child for sex
• Sending harmful material to a child
• Communicating with a child for sexual gratification

Perez remains in custody in lieu of $60,000 bail. He is scheduled for a felony settlement conference on Nov. 18.

The case FERI2506233 is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Sharon Shuster of the Major Crimes Division.

RCCET is led by the DA’s Bureau of Investigation and works in partnership with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, Beaumont, Blythe, Desert Hot Springs, Menifee, Murrieta, and Riverside Police Departments, the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, FBI, Inland Regional Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Marshals Service.