Twenty-three suspects have been arrested, among them a Publix employee, Army reservists and semi-retired doctor, in a five-day undercover cyber-sting operation, the second of its kind in Volusia County.
Dubbed, “Operation Volusia Broad Band,” under law enforcement “chatters” posing as children – or in some cases, guardians of children, congregated in Cyberspace chat rooms, social networks and various web sites and waited to be approached by the suspects.
Deputies say, in every case, the offenders thought they were either communicating with someone 14 or younger or a child’s guardian. When the conversation turned to meeting the child for sex, the undercover operative made arrangements to rendezvous at a decoy house in Ormond Beach that had been wired with surveillance cameras.
Most of the suspects were charged with three felonies – use of a computer to seduce or solicit a child to engage in unlawful sexual conduct, traveling to meet a minor to engage in unlawful sexual conduct and unlawful use of a two-way communications device.
The defendants ranged in ages from 18-66 and some traveled from as far away as Melbourne, Belleview, Cape Canaveral and even Kingsland, Georgia, but most actually live in Volusia County, deputies say.
Three are local students — two from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Nathaniel L. Fritz and Job Jesuraju) and the other from WyoTech (Lucas J. Rothermel). And most were carrying condoms, which agents say proves their intention was to have sex. One defendant, Paul D. Way, who thought he was meeting a 14-year-old girl even brought a teddy bear and a hand-written, signed contract with blanks for the mother and daughter to sign giving him permission to perform sex acts on the girl.
The oldest defendant, John F. Williams, is a semi-retired doctor from Port Orange, deputies say. He thought he was meeting a 14-year-old girl and brought a box of condoms, two bottles of wine, various sex devices and Viagra pills.
See full list of suspects HERE.
