A former deputy sheriff with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has taken his own life after his arrest earlier this month for trying to have sex with a minor, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Anthony Russo, 52, had been out on $50,000 bail after his Dec. 11 arrest at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning where he worked at the time he was ensnared by undercover investigators.
After receiving a tip on Dec. 10, an RCSD investigator posing as a 15-year-old contacted Russo, who “shared explicit material and communicated his intent to meet with the supposed minor to engage in sexual acts,” the sheriff’s department said at the time of his arrest.
The 52-year-old was taken into custody by RCSD’s Special Investigations Bureau, booked on two felony counts and ultimately charged by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office with one felony count of knowingly distributing harmful material.
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He also resigned his role as a deputy in the corrections division of the sheriff’s department.
The San Bernardino County Coroner’s office confirmed to The Times that Russo was found dead inside his Lake Arrowbear Lake home on Dec. 20, though they did not provide any information on the nature of the suicide or say who discovered him.
While RCSD officials told The Times they had no additional details on his death since that investigation is out their jurisdiction, they did offer condolences “to the family and friends affected by this tragic loss.”
Russo was scheduled to appear in court at the Riverside Hall of Justice on Jan. 24.
Help is available to anyone experiencing a mental health crisis by calling or texting the national suicide and crisis lifeline at 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.
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