Irvine CEO charged with sexual crimes against children pleads not guilty
An Irvine businessman accused of sexual assault against minors and possession of child pornography pleaded not guilty to all counts Friday afternoon.
Qayed Murtaza Shareef, 39, is charged with 30 felony counts of lewd acts with a child under 14, one felony count of using a minor for sex acts, one felony count of distributing pornography to a minor and one felony count of possession or control of child pornography, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.
Shareef, chief executive of Irvine-based Adaptive Media Inc., also faces a potential sentencing enhancement of substantial sexual conduct with a child under 14 and committing lewd acts on multiple victims.
The Aliso Viejo resident was arrested Wednesday and is being held with bail set at $2 million.
Prosecutors said Shareef used Tango, a mobile messaging service, and a fake name, Jeremy Stevens, to contact two boys in Virginia in December 2013. According to investigators, Shareef had sexually explicit conversations with the boys using the service.
Shareef is accused of persuading the boys, ages 9 and 10, to commit sex acts with each other, record the acts on an electronic tablet and send the footage to him.
Prosecutors say he also recorded sex acts performed on himself and sent the recordings and other adult pornography to the children.
The mother of one of the boys found the videos on the tablet in late December 2013 and notified Virginia law enforcement.
Though Shareef is not accused of having physical contact with the boys, state law says that “lewd and lascivious acts upon a child is committed when a defendant willfully causes a child to touch the child’s own body or the body of another with the intent of arousing, appealing to or gratifying the lust, passions and sexual desires of the defendant or the child,” according to the district attorney’s office.
The investigation is continuing. Any possible victims or those with information about the case are asked to call Sgt. Wade Walsviek at (714) 647-7418 or district attorney investigator Kelly Core at (714) 347-8794.
Shareef’s pre-trial hearing is scheduled for 8:30 am. March 27 at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.
