St. Augustine man among those caught in child sex sting

An undercover child sex sting in Volusia County has ended with 13 arrests.

The Sheriff’s Office says the suspects all exchanged sexually explicit messages with people they thought to be young children, who were actually undercover officers. The men then traveled to meet their victims, which is when they were caught.

32-year-old Nathan Daniels, of St. Augustine, is among the suspects who were arrested. Many of the other men are from central Florida, while two are from Virginia. Benjerman Roy, out of Orlando, is the only suspect still outstanding, but there is an active warrant out for his arrest.

The Sheriff’s Office says the suspects used social media, emails, and texts to arrange the encounters. Some brought drugs or condoms to the meetings, with all expressing a “clear desire to have sex with the boy or girl he believed he was meeting,” according to investigators. Each suspect is charged with attempted lewd or lascivious battery, using a computer to seduce/solicit/lure/entice a child, traveling to meet a minor for unlawful sexual conduct, and use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony.

Daniels specifically is accused of emailing with a cell phone to communicate with who he thought was a 13-year-old girl.  His arrest report says he traveled 55 miles to get to the location where he believed he would engage in sexual activity with the girl. In addition to sending explicit messages, Daniels also allegedly sent a picture of a penis to the person he thought was a child- and this was after having established the girl was 13.