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A Santa Clarita man was sentenced for sex crimes with a 15-year-old girl he met online, officials said Tuesday.

Canyon Country Man Sentenced To Probation and Lifetime Registration As Sex Offender

A judge sentenced a Santa Clarita man to five years formal probation, 373 days credit for time served and lifetime registration as a sex offender.


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Michael Anthony Byrne, 23, of Canyon Country, pleaded in court to one count of meeting a minor for lewd purposes.

The charges stemmed from accusations he solicited and engaged in sexual conduct with a 15-year-old girl he met online, officials said Tuesday.

Byrne faced preliminary arraignment in November on five counts — meeting a minor for lewd behavior, two counts of oral copulation with a minor under 16 years of age, sexual penetration by a foreign object and unlawful sexual conduct.

He was arrested Nov. 17, 2014, at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies after reportedly turning himself in, according to Sgt. Brian Hudson of the Special Victims Bureau of the Sheriff’s Department.

Detectives suspect he used a social media app called Whisper to meet a 15-year-old Santa Clarita girl, officials said.

The two then allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship. The crimes happened on or between Aug. 1-16, 2014, according to the complaint.

The charges are much more severe if the alleged victim is age 14 or under, according to state law.

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Canyon Country Man Sentenced To Probation and Lifetime Registration As Sex Offender

2 comments

  1. Im sorry but if the 15 year old girl engaged in the sexual activity WILLINGLY then this 23 year olds life should not be ruined. Hes not 30 or 40 for christ sake. If the 15 year old girl was NOT RAPED and was obviously in the relationship willingly then this is NOT NEWS, girls are skanks at young ages these days and I GUARANTEE she was bragging about her older boyfriend because girls at 15 want college age boyfriends. What this young man is guilty of is STUPIDITY

  2. Totally agree. They teach sex ed in schools and tell kids to have safe sex and all that…. So if its okay for a girl to have sex with a guy her own age then why not a guy a little bit older? What’s the real issue here?

    They need to either stop teaching kids that sex is okay or give us a good reason why this situation is any different then if she hooked up with a guy her own age.

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About Heather Harbin

Heather grew up in the Santa Clarita Valley and graduated from West Ranch High School in 2012. She recently graduated from College of the Canyons with an Associate's Degree in New Media Journalism. She was involved in College of the Canyons' "Cougar News" for two years, where she became the senior producer. She will be studying for her Bachelor's Degree at Cal State Northridge in the spring. Heather became a staff writer at KHTS AM-1220 following her internship in the newsroom. She has been writing news and feature articles for the KHTS website since May 2015.