Orange County, FL detectives arrested a former UCF golfer Thursday for meeting a teenage girl for sex. The 25-year-old athlete allegedly answered a Craigslist ad unknowingly posted by an Orange County Sheriff’s Office sex-crimes investigator who was pretending to be the mother of a 14-year-old girl.
In his alleged response to the ad, the man told the woman he would show his daughter multiple ways to have sex with a man. After the “mother” wrote back to the man giving him a green light with her “daughter,” the man made a joke about being great in bed as long as she was not a cop or affiliated with any type of law enforcement agency.
According to the arrest affidavit, the man arranged to meet the mother and daughter and said he would arrive in a white Toyota SUV. Investigators at the location arrested the man after they saw his car in the arranged meeting spot and recognized him from a picture he provided.
His wallet reportedly contained two condoms and after detectives questioned him he allegedly confirmed that he had communicated with what he thought was a woman offering sex with her 14-year-old daughter. He also supposedly admitted that he had planned to have sex with the girl.
The man, a citizen of South Korea, played golf for UCF from 2004 to 2008. He told detectives that he did not want them to notify the South Korean consulate that he had been detained.
The ex-golfer was released from the Orange County jail on $2,500 bond.
Internet solicitation of a minor is the act of asking, persuading or welcoming a minor to engage in sexual activity, while the solicitor is over the age of 18 and he or she knows that the minor is under 18 years of age. Oftentimes, Cases of minor solicitation involve the exchange of pornographic images, inappropriate language and/or arrangements to meet in person. In Florida, soliciting a minor for sex over the internet is a felony.
In an effort to cut down on the amount of adults that pose a threat to children, police officers will pose online as minors in an attempt to catch adults participating in illegal behavior with minors, mostly for the purposes of intervening meetings for sex. These officers do their research on minor’s behavior; they use believable screen names and language and identify themselves as minors or even sometimes a guardian of a minor. If an adult asks a minor to partake in sexual activity of any kind after the confirming the minor’s age, the adult has committed the crime of online solicitation. Contrary to many beliefs, the offender does not have to meet with the minor in person to be charged with internet solicitation.
If you or someone close to you has been arrested in any type of online sex sting operation in Florida, contact the Florida Sex Crimes Defense Lawyers online or call 866-608-5529.