Underage sex sting nets suspect

Laguna Beach police arrested a 34-year-old Anaheim man on suspicion of attempted lewd acts with a child and a related charge at 7:12 p.m. Tuesday during a sting operation at Alta Laguna Park, Sgt. Darin Lenyi said.

Scott Fish was arrested on charges of attempted lewd acts with a child and sending a minor harmful matter. Both are felonies. Fish was booked at the Laguna Beach City Jail and transported to the Orange County Jail; his bail was set at $100,000.

The arrest came after the group Perverted Justice, a nonprofit organization specializing in identifying adult sexual predators of underage children on the Internet, contacted detectives about a suspect soliciting sex acts from a perceived 13-year-old Laguna Beach girl.

Perverted Justice uses fictional victims to entice suspects seeking sexual contacts with minors over the Internet.

Detectives conducted an undercover operation to apprehend the suspect, who had also sent the “victim” pornographic pictures, Lenyi said.

The suspect had allegedly asked to meet with the fictional girl at a local park for the purpose of having sex. When he was arrested he had a condom in his possession, police said.

This is not the first time Perverted Justice has used Laguna Beach for a sting. In February 2006, a similar sting operation in Laguna Beach resulted in the arrest of 13 suspects.