Lenexa Man Charged with Traveling to Missouri to Engage in Illegal Sexual Conduct with a MinorArticle

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Lenexa, Kan., man has been charged in federal court on an attempted child exploitation charge. Ruben A. Gutierrez, II, 25, of Lenexa was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo. on Monday, July 13, 2026.

Gutierrez had his initial appearance yesterday afternoon.The federal complaint charges Gutierrez with one count of Travel with Intent to Engage in Sexual Conduct with a Minor.According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Gutierrez engaged in online communications with an undercover law enforcement officer who was posing online as a 14-year-old minor. During his communications with the person he believed to be a minor, Gutierrez arranged to meet the purported minor to engage in sexual conduct. Gutierrez was later arrested on July 12, 2026, after he traveled from Kansas to the location in Missouri where he had arranged to meet the minor to engage in sexual conduct. A subsequent search of Gutierrez’s cell phone by law enforcement located text messages between Gutierrez and the purported minor.

The charge contained in this complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department.Project Safe ChildhoodThis case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."