Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: March 2, 2007

Contact person(s):

Media Coordinator, Donna Edwards - 565-3099 Media Spokesperson, Assistant District Attorney Christine Cook

Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California

NEW CONVICTION IN DATELINE STING CASE

District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua announced that Gopichand Pai, 25, of Sunnyvale, pled no contest today to attempting a lewd or lascivious act on a child under the age of fourteen. Pai was arrested as a part of the Dateline NBC sting operation conducted in conjunction with the Petaluma Police Department. Pai will be sentenced on May 23, 2007, in front of Superior Court Judge Kenneth Gnoss.

In the course of the Petaluma sting operation, Pai engaged in graphic conversations of a sexual nature with a person he believed to be a thirteen year-old child. That person was actually an adult volunteer with an organization known as Perverted Justice. After discussing his desires to engage in sexual activity, Pai made arrangements to go to the home of the alleged child. Pai was living and working in Silicon Valley, took a bus to Petaluma, and walked the final distance to the home. Pai entered the property, ostensibly to meet the thirteen year-old, but after meeting Dateline NBC staff, he was arrested by the Petaluma Police Department.

Deputy District Attorney Juliette Olson was the prosecutor assigned to this case. Petaluma Police Detective Paul Gilman was the lead investigator and Petaluma Police Sergeant Matthew Stapleton headed up the sting operation.