A Canyon Country man was charged Wednesdy with sex-related counts involving a 15-year-old girl he allegedly met through a social media app.
Michael Anthony Byrne, 23, pleaded not guilty to two counts of oral copulation of a person under 16 and one count each of unlawful sexual intercourse, meeting a minor for lewd purposes and sexual penetration by a foreign object.
Byrne allegedly met the teen through an app that allows anonymous social media interactions, according to Deputy District Attorney Emily Cole.
He allegedly initially pretended to be a girl who then introduced a “friend” who was also Byrne, according to the prosecutor.
Byrne was arrested Monday by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and has remained jailed since then, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Inmate Information Center website.
He is due back in a San Fernando courtroom Dec. 5, when a preliminary hearing date is to be set. The hearing is to determine if there is sufficient evidence to hold a trial.
— City News Service