Independence Community Awareness

Lenexa Man Charged with Traveling to Missouri to Engage in Illegal Sexual Conduct with a Minor

7/14/2026 - KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

A Lenexa, Kansas man has been charged in federal court on an attempted child exploitation charge.

Ruben A. Gutierrez, II, 25, of Lenexa was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo. on Monday, July 13, 2026. Gutierrez had his initial appearance yesterday afternoon.

The federal complaint charges Gutierrez with one count of Travel with Intent to Engage in Sexual Conduct with a Minor.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Gutierrez engaged in online communications with an undercover law enforcement officer who was posing online as a 14-year-old minor. During his communications with the person he believed to be a minor, Gutierrez arranged to meet the purported minor to engage in s*xual conduct.

Gutierrez was later arrested on July 12, 2026, after he traveled from Kansas to the location in Missouri where he had arranged to meet the minor to engage in s*xual conduct. A subsequent search of Gutierrez’s cell phone by law enforcement located text messages between Gutierrez and the purported minor.