"LGBT ‘resource center’ official arrested for trying to solicit sex with teenagers online"

"The former executive director of a California LGBT organization was among more than a dozen men arrested in a recent sting operation for trying to solicit sex with children.

On January 8, the Modesto Bee reported the arrest of seventeen men, mostly from Stanislaus and Merced counties, as the result of a months-long, multi-agency operation headed by the Turlock Police Department to apprehend people trying to use internet chat rooms to 'meet with underage children for the purpose of sexual activity.' The suspects were speaking online to undercover police officers they believed to be children as young as thirteen.

'I am proud of Detective Gina Giovacchini and our team for their efforts to intercept those looking to harm children in our community,' said Turlock Police Chief Jason Hedden.

Among the suspects was 42-year-old Gerad Slayton of Modesto, who is revealed in a follow-up Bee report to have been the recently-appointed executive director of the Modesto-based Rainbow Resource Center (RRC), a provider of LGBT 'health' services that describes itself as a 'Non-Profit Queer Resource Center serving Stanislaus County. Not Your Typical Pride Center!'

On January 9, RRC released a statement stating that Slayton’s alleged crimes occurred 'outside working hours and off premises,' that it 'take[s] these allegations with the utmost seriousness,' that they 'do not represent our organization’s values or mission,' and that 'we are addressing the issue within' the center.

On January 17, the group issued a follow-up statement revealing that Slayton 'is no longer employed with the Rainbow Resource Center.'"