Oregon Man Corresponded With Banning Girl For Illicit Purposes

BANNING, CA — A 32-year-old Oregon man who traveled to Riverside County for a dalliance with a Banning girl pleaded guilty Tuesday to contacting a minor for illicit purposes.

Devon Richard Decerto of Gresham, Oregon, admitted the felony count under a plea agreement with the District Attorney's Office. In exchange for his admission, prosecutors agreed to drop a related charge.

The plea deal was announced just prior to a preliminary hearing for Decerto at the Banning Justice Center. Superior Court Judge Joshlyn Pulliam scheduled a sentencing hearing for Oct. 24 and left the defendant's bail set at $25,000.

He's being held at the nearby Smith Correctional Facility.

According to the Banning Police Department, on the afternoon of Feb. 14, the mother of the victim, whose name was not released, went to the police department to complain that her 16-year-old daughter had been regularly communicating with Decerto since the start of the year on social media and had even met him in person that Valentine's Day after he flew from Oregon to Southern California.

Detectives discovered the defendant was still in the area and preparing to fly home via Ontario International Airport, at which point they obtained an arrest warrant and served it on him at the airport, before he boarded his flight to Portland.

Decerto was taken into custody without incident.

He has no documented prior felony convictions in California. Information on possible criminal acts in Oregon was unavailable.