Chris Gollon
The Volusia Sheriff’s Office has arrested fourteen men it says were traveling with plans to meet a minor for sexual activity, the agency announced on Monday. The sting, called ‘Operation Travel to Gavel’, led to the arrests of suspects from around the state and even one from North Carolina.
The suspects were accused of messaging what they thought were boys and girls between 13 and 15 years old on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this past week. The VSO says they had detectives undercover posing as minors to catch the predators.
“When everybody gets caught they’ll tell you ‘it was a mistake, it was the first time I ever did this’…well in reality, it’s not the first time you’ve done it,” said Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood. “Maybe it’s the first time you took that overt step, but you’ve been on there. You just don’t wake up one day and roll over and decide, ‘I’m gonna go online and I’m gonna strike up a conversation with a young girl and see how it goes’.”
In the most alarming of the arrests, 25-year-old Moshe Juarez of Ocala is accused of ramming into a deputy with his car and fracturing his leg. Another defendant, 33-year-old Julio Chavarria of South Daytona, is reportedly a Nicaraguan national who subsequently had a detainer placed on him by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Also of note, 45-year-old Joshua Walker was reportedly visiting Florida on vacation at the time of his arrest. He was said to be with his girlfriend and three kids when he allegedly attempted to meet a minor for sex.
The fourteen men arrested in the sting are as follows, with their age, location, and charges.
- Kenneth Leon Baldwin Jr. (39 years old, Daytona Beach)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Julio Cesar Real Chavarria (33 years old, South Daytona)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Illegal immigrant/alien
- Sourab Chilakamarri (26 years old, Daytona Beach)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Thomas Edward Concree (40 years old, Kissimmee)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Resisting an officer without violence
- Carlos Guebara (51 years old, DeLand)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Niegel George Johnson (28 years old, Daytona Beach)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Moshe Josue Delgado Juarez (35 years old, Ocala)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Fleeing/attempting to elude law enforcement
- Aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer
- Aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer
- Failure to comply with request for inspection of commercial vehicle with violence
- Francisco Javier Jurado (33 years old, Orange City)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Mathieu Merveil Kouatonou (29 years old, Orlando)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Lewd/lascivious battery/sex act on a minor 12-16 years old
- Thomas Edward McKee (39 years old, Port Orange)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Reinaldo Ray Medina Jr. (26 years old, South Daytona)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Lewd/lascivious battery/sex act on a minor 12-16 years old
- Robert Scott Shipley Jr. (26 years old, Vero Beach)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
- Joshua Lee Walker (45 years old, Lexington, North Carolina)
- Joseph Alan Williamson (55 years old, Port Orange)
- Traveling to meet a child lured on a computer
- Using computer to seduce/solicit/lure a child
- Unlawful usage of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony
