On March 12, 2016, the Burbank Police Department began investigating the sexual abuse of a 16 year-old Burbank resident. The juvenile reported that in February 2016, she met an adult male, via a social media application on her phone and the two subsequently agreed to meet at the juvenile’s residence in Burbank, where they engaged in “consensual” sex.
The juvenile’s mother later found text message communications on her daughter’s phone. She conducted her own initial investigation, which included using the suspect’s phone number and California’s Megan’s Law website. The juvenile’s mother found the phone number her daughter used to communicate with the male belonged to a 33 year-old registered sex offender. She brought her daughter to the Burbank Police Station to report the incident.
Burbank Police Investigators identified 33 year-old Arnold McGovern, a Hanford, CA resident, as the suspect in this case. McGovern is a sex registrant and on probation for a prior conviction involving lewd acts with a minor more than 10 years younger than him.
Burbank Police Detectives worked with the Hanford Police Department on the execution of arrest and search warrants for McGovern and his residence in Hanford. The warrants were served by Burbank PD Juvenile Detectives with the assistance of Hanford PD on March 31. Investigators seized the suspect’s phone, computers and other digital evidence.
McGovern was booked into the Kings County Jail on several charges, including having sex with a minor, sexual penetration of a minor, contact with a minor for the purpose of lewd and lascivious behavior with a prior sex crimes conviction and for contacting and meeting a minor for the purpose of sexual contact. McGovern will appear in court next week in Kings County for extradition proceedings, which will lead to his arraignment in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Burbank Police Investigators, who are members of The Los Angeles Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), will be examining numerous items of digital evidence seized in connection with this investigation.
