Registered sex offender arrested for allegedly having sex with underage Burbank teen

Police arrested a 33-year-old registered sex offender Thursday accused of having sex with a Burbank teenager he met online, police said.

The investigation began earlier this month after a Burbank mother found text messages between her 16-year-old daughter and the man, who police identified as Hanford probationer Arnold McGovern, according to Burbank Police Sgt. Claudio Losacco.

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After the victim’s mother found McGovern on the state’s sex offender database, she, along with her daughter, reported the incident to police.

The girl told police that she met the man online in February, after which they met at her Burbank home and had “consensual” sex, Losacco said.

Burbank and Hanford investigators reportedly searched the man’s home Thursday, seizing his phone, computers and other evidence.

McGovern, who police said has been convicted of committing lewd acts with a minor, was arrested on suspicion of 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 conviction of a sex crime and meeting a minor for the purpose of sexual contact, police said.

He’s due in Kings County Superior Court next week.

Police reminded parents to monitor their children’s online and phone activity.