POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A Hollywood man is accused of driving to central Florida in order to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, whose office is known for conducting online predator stings, announced the agency’s latest sting Thursday, called “Operation Cyber Guardian 2.”
Recommended Videos
Thirty-nine-year-old Juan Carlos Guzman was one of 13 men arrested by deputies.
According to the sheriff’s office, Guzman “began an online conversation on a social networking site with an undercover detective who was posing as a 14-year-old girl” on Sept. 1.
“Guzman asked the undercover detective if she was looking for a ‘sugar daddy,’” the agency said. “The conversation continued for three days and numerous times discussed her being a 14-year-old. He also sent her a lewd photograph of himself.”
Guzman then arranged to meet the girl, telling her he wanted to have sex and would teach her how to use a condom, deputies said.
The sheriff’s office said Guzman told detectives he was employed by Memorial West Hospital in Pembroke Pines as a maintenance worker and said he told his wife he was leaving to do a side job as a painter when he traveled to Polk County.
Guzman faces four felony counts: traveling to meet a minor for sex, transmitting harmful material to a minor, use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony and one count of attempted lewd battery.
Deputies said he was being held in the Polk County Jail Thursday on those charges, plus a federal immigration hold.