DeLand, FLORIDA — (News Release / Volusia County Sheriff’s Office) — As long as predators are targeting children through the Internet – and traveling to meet them in person – law enforcement officers will be working to put them behind bars instead.
Over and over again, that’s what’s been happening in Volusia County during a days-long undercover operation that resulted in the arrests of 13 suspects, all men who exchanged sexually explicit messages with – and then traveled to meet – officers they believed were juveniles. An additional suspect fled from deputies and has a warrant out for his arrest.
The defendants used social media sites, emails and text messages to arrange sexual encounters with undercover agents posing online as children 14 years old or younger. Some brought drugs, some brought condoms – each expressed a clear desire to have sex with the boy or girl he believed he was meeting.
“Our main goal is to protect the children and let these people know: We are there, we will go after them, and if they stick their heads up, we’re going to let the world know who they are,” Sheriff Ben Johnson said in a Monday afternoon news conference announcing the arrests.
Undercover agents working out of the Sheriff’s Office Operations Center in Daytona Beach, set up meetings with the defendants at several public locations throughout Volusia County, including Daytona Beach and Deltona. A mobile surveillance team tracked the suspects as they arrived at those locations, where deputies moved in to take them into custody.
Each defendant is charged with attempted lewd or lascivious battery, using a computer to seduce/solicit/lure/entice a child, traveling to meet a minor to engage in unlawful sexual conduct and use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony.
The defendants along with their ages, dates of birth, cities of residence, and, if available, occupations, are:
Richard J. Preira, 40 (DOB 3/2/1976), Daytona Beach
Joshua Ellich, 23 (DOB 7/12/1993), Deltona
Timothy Carl Tate, 40 (DOB 8/5/1975), Bumpass, Va., self-employed
Anthony Onesi, 48 (DOB 10/1/1968), Lovettsville, Va., NASA contractor
Nathan E. Daniels, 32 (DOB 10/18/1984), St. Augustine
Jeffrey Goerke, 32 (DOB 5/26/1984), Titusville, construction worker
Nathaniel J. Whiting, 37 (DOB 6/28/1979), DeLand
Maxmillion V. Littman, 23 (DOB 7/30/1993), New Smyrna Beach, pizza restaurant employee
Tyrik Williams, 18 (DOB 4/10/1998), Cocoa
Javon A. Douglas, 20 (DOB 1/28/1996), Altamonte Springs, telemarketer
Jacob Smoot, 19 (DOB 12/26/1996), Ormond Beach, electrician apprentice
David Jaco, 61 (DOB 6/7/1955), Ormond Beach, dental office operations manager
Michael Jackson, 26 (DOB 1/22/1990), Daytona Beach, auto/motorcycle repair
The suspect who fled is:
Benjerman Roy, 28 (DOB 8/7/1988), Orlando
“These people are predators,” Sheriff Johnson said of those who use the Internet to seek sexual encounters with minors. “They know how to talk to children. They can take a good child and turn them bad, put them on the wrong side. When you leave home to meet someone like that, you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know if they’re going to go willingly… become a victim of sexual abuse, or worst-case scenario, never come home. Parents have to get involved. They have to start watching.”
The operation was a joint effort that enlisted the cooperation of more than a dozen other Florida agencies. The Sheriff’s Office, its Major Case Unit and Crime Scene Unit and the Volusia Bureau of Investigation worked with the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the ICE-Brevard-Volusia Child Exploitation Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the State Attorney’s Office for the Seventh Judicial Circuit, sheriff’s offices from Brevard County, St. Johns County, Okaloosa County and Jacksonville, and police departments from Daytona Beach, Gainesville, Tallahassee and Pensacola.
