Child Predator Arrested Following Months-Long Investigation
“After a months-long investigation, Placer County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested 58-year-old Robert Popowski of Reno, Nevada, on Oct. 21, 2026.
The investigation began in July 2026, when Popowski began communicating online with a detective posing as a 13-year-old girl.
The conversations were sexual in nature, and Popowski eventually made plans to meet with who he believed was a 13-year-old girl for sex in Placer County.
In October, a Placer County judge issued an arrest warrant for Popowski. A Placer County Sheriff’s Office Crimes Against Persons Detective worked in partnership with the Reno Police Department’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit to locate and arrest him.
Popowski was arrested on Oct. 21 and booked into the South Placer Jail for lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 (Penal Code 288(a)).”
