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Convicted Glenn County Sex Offender Busted In Sexting Sting

ORLAND (CBS13) - A convicted child predator has been busted once again -- this time in a sexting sting.

The victim is a teenage girl, and her alert parents helped solve the case.

Walter Schambach has a history with a sex crime conviction already on his record. This time around, officers say he was tricked into thinking he was sexting with an underage girl, when in fact he was talking to police.

"I do not agree with that. I did not know until after the fact I raised three daughters. So beat it, go," Schambach's girlfriend's mother said.

Friends say Schambach lived with his girlfriend and her mom. She just learned of his charges and clearly didn't want CBS13 asking questions.

"Get that thing outta my face," the mother said to CBS13's Nick Janes. "You want me to break it?"

She refused to say anything more about an arrest that has neighbors disgusted.

"He oughta do about 25 years. That's the way I feel," said one nieghbor.

Police in the Glenn County community of Orland say Schambach -- a registered sex offender -- sent inappropriate text messages to a 14-year-old girl whose number he got from his son's phone.

"She felt uncomfortable and hoped if she ignored it, it would go away and it hadn't," Orland police Sgt. Sean Johnson said.

The teen's parents discovered the messages and reported them to police. The next day, officers set up a sting -- posing as the girl.

Police say the conversation became increasingly explicit, saying the 35-year-old sent pictures of himself and wanted to meet with the teen.

The suspect apparently didn't think twice about the 14-year-old girl suggesting a meeting at a park that is 100 yards from the police station.

Police say Schambach was punctual, arriving on time at 5 p.m. sharp. At first he tried to act like he didn't know why police were there and denying the whole thing.

"Until we confronted him a little more, and then he knew what was up," said Johnson.

Parents saw the texts thanks to an app they put on their daughter's phone that forwards all messages to an e-mail account, which she knew about.

As for Schambach, he was previously convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14.

Schambach is being held at Glenn County Jail.

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