Sex offender accused of luring children with pet parrot might have other victims, police say

After arresting a registered sex offender who is accused of using his pet parrot as a lure for young children, police are seeking any additional victims of the man.

Authorities are urging anyone who saw the suspect in the Huntington Beach Pier area -- and parents who believe their child came in contact with the man -- to call Huntington Beach police at (714) 960-8825. Police released a photo of both Michael Joseph DeSilva, 65, of Newport Beach, and his parrot.

DeSilva was arrested and booked into the Huntington Beach jail on Saturday. The parrot, named Mango, was taken by Orange County animal control officers, police said.

Authorities received a call about 4:15 p.m. of a suspicious man near Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway who was talking to children and trying to get them to play with the parrot.

When police arrived, there were no children present, but upon questioning the man they determined he was a registered sex offender.

After contacting his probation officer, police concluded that, based on his activity, DeSilva had violated his probation, Lt. Russell Reinhart said.

 -- Carla Rivera

Comments

[Jim]

I say, lock that parrot up!

[LockHimUp]

Lock this dirtbag up and throw him in general population!!! Let him see the other inmates pet Parrot's.

[Jennifer Mitchell]

Our hearts go out to everyone involved in this case.

Once again, we bear witness to the tactics of a registered sex offender luring children to his side. While numerically and creatively infinite, the lures sexual offenders use on children, teens and even adults generally fall into the sixteen categories – the Pet Lure being one of them.

Over the past 35 years, Child Advocate Ken Wooden interviewed convicted sex offenders and abductors to uncover the diverse and imaginative strategies they use to groom and entrap their victims. While adults are primarily responsible for protecting children, the reality is that we can’t be with our children every moment of every day. Hence, it is essential that we teach them how to recognize and evade the lures that have been used for generations by sexual predators of every kind.

The age-old adage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," was never more relevant. To learn more about child and teen lures prevention measures, we invite you to visit childluresprevention.com and teenluresprevention.com and contact Rosemary Webb or Jennifer Mitchell at 1-800-552-2197.