Man, 40, Behind Bars for Alleged Sexually Motivated Messages with Boy, 14

PALM DESERT (CNS) – A 40-year-old man was behind bars Thursday for allegedly sending sexually motivated messages to someone he believed was a 14- year-old boy in Palm Desert.

Brandon Devon Bourgeois of Hemet was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of contacting a minor to commit a felony and attempting oral copulation with a person under 16 years of age, according to Sgt. Josh Button of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

The self-called child advocacy group, CC Unit, made a call for service around 4 p.m. that day in the 72300 block of Highway 111.

"The group called dispatch to notify the department they would be confronting a man who worked in the area regarding sexually motivated communications he was having with a person he believed to be a 14-year-old boy," Button said in a statement. "The group live-streamed the confrontation on YouTube."

The group was then taken to the Palm Desert sheriff’s station, where they provided deputies with communications between their guise of the boy and, allegedly, Bourgeois, according to Button.

Bourgeois was subsequently booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio, where he remains held on $55,000, according to court records.

Anyone with more information on Bourgeois was asked to call Investigator Jose Munoz of the Palm Desert Sheriff’s station at 760-836-1600.

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