Officer Accused Of Trying To Meet Teen Girl Caught In Monrovia Vigilante Sting: Police

MONROVIA, CA — A Los Angeles Police Department officer was arrested on suspicion of attempting to meet an underage girl for sexual purposes in Monrovia, where a civilian vigilante group confronted him following an online sting operation, according to authorities and reports.

Leonardo A. Ruiz, 31, was arrested the night of Oct. 22 on suspicion of arranging a meeting with a minor, or someone believed to be a minor, for lewd purposes, according to the Monrovia Police Department.

Officers responded to the 300 block of West Olive Avenue shortly before 10 p.m. that night, police told the Los Angeles Times.

The arrest followed a confrontation between Ruiz and members of a group called Yn_vs_preds, whose members pose as minors online to catch suspected sexual predators, the Times reported.

Ashton Corona, a leader of the group, told KTLA he spent three days exchanging messages with Ruiz while posing as a 16-year-old girl.

Corona claimed that Ruiz asked whether the girl's mother would be home and discussed bringing condoms, according to the station.

According to Corona, Ruiz arrived at the agreed-upon meeting location but attempted to flee when members of the group confronted him.

Video obtained by KTLA shows several men chasing a man through a Monrovia neighborhood before tackling him and holding him until police arrived.

During the confrontation, members of the group discovered what appeared to be an LAPD badge displayed on Ruiz's phone, the Times reported.

Corona told the newspaper he had not known the man was a police officer before the confrontation.

Ruiz was booked into custody and subsequently released pending further investigation, according to Los Angeles County jail records.

"We are aware of an arrest involving a department employee. The department is fully cooperating with the investigation," the LAPD said in a statement.

Civilian groups modeled after the television show “To Catch a Predator” have emerged across the country, but their tactics have drawn criticism over concerns about vigilante justice and the potential danger to both group members and the people they confront.

Retired LAPD Detective Moses Castillo told KTLA that investigators will need to independently verify evidence collected by the civilian group before determining whether criminal charges are warranted.

"The issue here is that this investigation was not conducted by law enforcement," Castillo told the station. "It was conducted by a civilian group, who now the police must independently verify all the information that they have."

City News Service contributed to this report.