TWENTYNINE PALMS – (INT) – A 12-year California Highway Patrol officer has been charged with committing sexual acts with two teenage girls.

Investigators accuse Robert Stephano, 44, of soliciting the acts as long ago as 2010.

The charges filed Friday allege lewd and lascivious acts with a child between 14 and 15 years old, communicating with a minor with the intent to commit a sex crime and arranging to meet with a minor to commit a sex crime.

Stephano’s background includes volunteering as an assistant softball coach for a Morongo Basin recreational league, and assisting youth groups for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Stephano was last reported in custody with his bail set at $250,000.

Story Date: December 12, 2018