Volusia County, FL - 11 men are now in custody after the Volusia County Sheriff's Office rounds up a group of suspects in an undercover sting named "Operation Deviant Desire."
The five-day operation, which was carried out by members of the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, consisted of a number of undercover agents who posed as 14-year-old boy or girl. The agents would then speak to the defendant through an online medium, who would then engage in some sort of sexual activity.
According to Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, the 11 men ranged from ages 19 to 55. Most of those arrested came from surrounding areas around Volusia County, and one possibly from Virginia.
The 11 arrested were:
*Sheriff Chitwood commented that Wilkins had a Virginia license plate on his vehicle and a listed Virginia address but could not confirm if he was, in fact, residing in Virginia and drove from Virginia.
"You got 11 of these guys who came clearly with the intent to have sex with a 14-year-old," said Sheriff Chitwood. "They knew they were meeting a 14-year-old, even when being questioned upon arrest, they knew it was wrong to meet a 14-year-old."
Multiple times in their conversations, undercover agents explicitly stated that they were 14-years-old and each suspect acknowledged that fact.
Eventually, a rendezvous was set up with each of the men, asking them to meet at a Wawa gas station in Port Orange. There is where the suspects were arrested by deputies and task force members.
Some illicit items were also seized during the arrests. One of the suspects, David Shook, who was wearing a shirt with the famous Hunter S. Thompson quote "too weird to live, too rare to die" at the time of his arrest, reportedly brought condoms, a handgun, cannabis, drug paraphernalia and a knife to his meetup.
When Kumar Speicher was arrested, deputies said they found two different laptops, condoms, loose pills, a sex toy, suspected cannabis, male stamina pills and a bottle containing an unknown liquid.
And, according to the report, at the time of his arrest, Michail Hackett told law enforcement that he didn't know having sex with a 14-year-old was illegal.
Two nationals were also arrested in this sting. Sheriff Chitwood said that He Pengzhou was a Chinese-national and is now held on a detainer so he can face his charges in the United States.
The other suspect was Mauricio Luna, who is supposedly a Mexican-national. Sheriff Chitwood stated that they are currently working on verifying his identity.
According to Sheriff Chitwood, the two nationals were already in the United States, prior to the start of the operation. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also assisted in the sting.
All of these arrests come in the wake of another high profile case involving a convicted sex offender that caught the ire of Sheriff Chitwood.
Back in June, former Embry-Riddle professor Mark Fugler was convicted on nine different counts of child sex crimes. Not long after he was sentenced, Fugler was released on a $200,000 bond, which not only caught the attention of the local community but also the attention of Sheriff Chitwood and the State Attorney's Office.
Sheriff Chitwood also took the time at the press conference to comment on the case as well as some negative feedback he had received from local attorneys published in the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
"Regardless of what the judges think, regardless of what the News-Journal things, we are out here and we are going to protect our children," said Chitwood.
Also in response to the case, Sheriff Chitwood addressed letters to Chief Judge Raul Zambrano of the Seventh Judicial Circuit as well as State Attorney R.J. Larizza.
The State Attorney's office will be in court on Thursday (October 3rd) with a motion against Fugler's release, where they are expected to ask the judge to reconsider his bond.
Representative Tom Leek and Senator Tom Wright are also expected to present new legislation at the Florida State Capitol that could affect how child predators get bond. That will be carried out during the 2020 Legislative Session, which begins January 14th.
