A 53-year-old Gilroy man who once counseled troubled teenagers at San Mateo County's Boys Ranch and now works in IT for the San Benito County Probation Department has been charged with grooming a 13-year-old boy he found on TikTok. Damon Jon Luecke faces three felony counts and one misdemeanor count, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, after investigators say he exchanged sexually explicit conversations and images with the boy and discussed meeting him in person.
Prosecutors said Luecke used TikTok to find the boy online and continued engaging in sexually explicit conversations with him despite knowing he was 13, according to the KRON4 report on the case. The boy's mother discovered the communications on social media and alerted police, setting off an investigation that led Gilroy Police Department investigators to search Luecke's phone, where they allegedly found sexually explicit images of the boy. Officers arrested Luecke at his Gilroy home on August 7, and he was taken into custody following the arrest.
Charges Tied to Grooming and Explicit Images
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office says prosecutors filed felony charges against Luecke, who is accused of possessing sexually explicit images of the 13-year-old and of meeting the boy in person. Per the district attorney's office, Deputy District Attorney David Shabaglian of the South County Office is prosecuting the case, while Sergeant Kenneth Ellsworth of the Gilroy Police Department's Investigations Bureau led the investigation that followed search warrants executed on cellular devices and social media accounts.
The specific statutes underlying the case target online exploitation before it escalates to physical contact. Under California Penal Code Section 288.3, communicating or attempting to communicate with a minor while knowing their age, with intent to commit a felony sex offense, is its own distinct felony, according to Cron Israels and Stark. Separately, California Penal Code Section 311.11 makes possession or control of child sexual abuse material a felony punishable by up to three years in state prison along with mandatory sex offender registration, per FindLaw. California Penal Code Section 288.2, which covers transmitting or displaying harmful obscene material to a minor with intent to seduce, carries up to three years in prison and requires lifetime Tier 3 sex offender registration, according to the Law Offices of Kraut Law Group.
A Career Spent Around Vulnerable Youth
Luecke'sθδΈ history gives the case an unsettling backdrop. San Benito County Probation Department directory records show he joined that department as an IT staff analyst in March 2023, a role overseeing the department's IT systems inventory, case management system, and data collection. Before that, he spent roughly 16 years with the San Mateo County Probation Department, working as a juvenile corrections officer and counselor at Juvenile Hall and the Boys Ranch from 2006 to 2014, then moving into departmental systems analyst and correctional administrator roles through 2023, according to San Benito County Probation Department administrative records.
The Boys Ranch, formally known as Camp Glenwood, is described on the probation department's website as an in-custody facility for juveniles designed to help youth make positive and healthy choices when they return to their communities. A San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury report describes it as the county's unfenced honor camp for male juvenile offenders, situated on 60 acres in La Honda in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen called Luecke's prior work in law enforcement with children deeply disturbing, and said there are child predators lurking online.
Arraignment Set for Wednesday in Morgan Hill
Luecke is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill, with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office setting the hearing for 9 a.m. in Department 105. The regional Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which coordinates agencies including the district attorney's office and local police departments to investigate online child exploitation across Santa Clara and surrounding Bay Area counties, provides the broader law enforcement infrastructure behind cases like this one.
The district attorney's office is asking anyone with additional relevant information about Luecke to contact the Gilroy Police Department's Investigations Bureau at 408-846-0368. It remains unclear whether San Benito or San Mateo County probation departments will conduct internal reviews of Luecke's administrative system access or whether additional victims will come forward following the call for information. How Luecke pleads at Wednesday's arraignment is also not yet known.
