Rio Linda man arrested in undercover sting sentenced for child sex abuse images
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A federal judge sentenced Kenneth Wayne Lorenz of Rio Linda to 14 years in prison.
- Lorenz was arrested in July in an Northern California undercover operation.
- Lorenz was convicted of possessing child sexual abuse images.
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a Sacramento County man to 14 years in prison for possessing child sexual abuse images after he was arrested in July 2024 in a Northern California undercover operation.
This past summer, Kenneth Wayne Lorenz, 82, of Rio Linda, was among 14 people arrested in the operation that sought to target child sexual predators. Lorenz’s friend, Kevin Leslie Gipson, 60, of Oroville, also was among the 14 arrested.
Lorenz was convicted of possessing visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento announced Friday in a news release. U.S. District Judge Daniel J. Calabretta sentenced Lorenz.
Gipson and Lorenz initially faced local charges stemming from their arrests and were arraigned in Sacramento Superior Court. An Oct. 3, 2024, federal grand jury indictment superseded the county charges.
In April, Gipson pleaded guilty to attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Butte County man is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 5.
The three-day undercover sting, known as Operation Summer Sentinel, was led by the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office and the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office in partnership with the Sacramento Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Officers from 20 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies convened in a room in July 2024 to talk on social media apps and websites with the men who believed they were speaking with young girls, sheriff’s officials announced in early August 2024.
Federal prosecutors said Gipson responded to an undercover investigator who had assumed the identity of a man who was interested in finding people to have sex with his 8‑year-old daughter.
Gipson told the undercover investigator that Lorenz might also be interested in having sex with the child, prosecutors said. The undercover investigators later spoke with Lorenz by phone. Prosecutors said Lorenz confirmed he would cancel a poker game so the man could bring his daughter to Lorenz’s home.
Investigators served a search warrant at Lorenz’s home. Prosecutors said the investigators found two thumb drives and a laptop computer that contained child sexual abuse material, including videos involving infants and bestiality.
Lorenz admitted to investigators that he possessed the images on the two thumb drives and that he viewed the material with his friends, including Gipson, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
