A Morongo Valley man was arrested Sunday, accused of soliciting a 12-year-old girl for sex. Police from New Hampshire contacted the San Bernardino Crimes Against Children division August 31 about a 12-year-old girl who was receiving lewd photos and messages from Christopher Pate, 20, of the 9000 block of Ole Street in Morongo Valley. According to the Sheriff’s Department, after exchanging messages and nude photos, Pate arranged to meet the girl at a water park in Palm Springs for sex and other lewd acts. The Sheriff’s Department obtained an arrest warrant for Pate, and when he showed up in the water park’s parking lot in an older model passenger van with items that indicated he intended to have sex, he was arrested shortly before 11 a.m by Palm Springs police. Detectives from the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s station took custody of Pate, and obtained search warrants for his home and his van. After an investigation, Christopher Pate was arrested on suspicion of contacting a minor for sexual acts and eliciting obscene matter from a minor, booked at the Morongo Basin Jail, with his bail set at $225,000.
