Detective tipped off suspects about child sex sting operation, Florida sheriff says
A Central Florida detective is accused of warning suspected child predators that they were targets of an undercover sting operation, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators began looking into the detective, assigned to the Crimes Against Children Unit, in April while the team was preparing for a sting operation to catch online predators, according to a news release from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.
The undercover operation involved detectives posing as children online and messaging potential child predators.
Detectives made arrangements with the targets to meet up for sex, WESH reported, but then some targets suddenly stopped responding and didn’t show up to the in-person meets.
Investigators went through team members’ phones and traced messages warning the targets of the sting back to the detective’s phone, WESH reported.
The detective sent messages to the targets saying, “She is fake dude, stay away,” and “I’m trying to help you out, delete and go away,” the outlet reported citing the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office said the detective “covertly used technology to warn suspects intending to travel to meet minors for sex that they were involved in an undercover operation, allowing them to avoid arrest, and potentially putting other detectives in harm’s way.”
Only one of the five targets still showed up to the undercover meet, two others were caught later, and two have not been caught after receiving the detective’s warning, WESH reported.
The sheriff’s office did not release what may have prompted the detective to warn the suspects.
The detective, who joined the sheriff’s office in 2010 and the child crimes unit in 2015, was suspended on April 21 as the investigation started, the sheriff’s office said.
“You were responsible for protecting the most vulnerable members of our society, our children, and the actions you are alleged to have committed instead aided those who would seek to victimize children by allowing them to avoid arrest and prosecution,” Sheriff Dennis Lemma said in the release.
On July 27, the detective was charged with 15 felony counts, including unlawful use of a two-way communication device, disclosure or use of confidential criminal justice information and unlawful use of a computer, network, or electronic device resulting in the interruption or impairment of governmental operation.
He was booked and placed on a $65,000 bond, then given a GPS monitoring device, the sheriff’s office said.
Lemma said the sheriff’s office was in the process of terminating the detective’s employment.
On July 28, the detective pleaded not guilty on all counts, WKMG reported.
The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office is headquartered in Sanford, about 20 miles northeast of Orlando.
This story was originally published July 28, 2023 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Detective tipped off suspects about child sex sting operation, Florida sheriff says."
