MIAMI SPRINGS, Fla. – Police arrested a 35-year-old Hialeah man Wednesday after accusing him of offering vape cartridges to a Miami Springs middle schooler in exchange for sexual favors; authorities say it all happened after he encountered her and a friend at a food store.
According to an arrest report from the Miami Springs Police Department, Moises Ledon first met the 11-year-old victim and her friend, also 11, on Oct. 9 while they were at the Colon Supermarket in Hialeah.
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The pair were wearing their Miami Springs Middle School uniforms, the report states. The food store is located at 405 E. Okeechobee Road, just a few hundred feet away from the school across the Miami River canal.
According to police, Ledon introduced himself to the pair and asked them if they smoked, and, after the victim responded that she smoked vapes, told her that he could provide her vapes if she gave him her phone number.
The girl’s friend gave Ledon a fake number, but the victim gave him her real one, the report states, leading him to contact her later that day and send a video clip displaying his inventory of vape cartridges and cannabis, police said.
She responded to the video by texting “bet” and then asked “but how old was u thinkin I was?”
“Okd (sic) enough. LOL,” police say he replied, telling her he was 25.
But she would plainly state she was not old enough, the report states. Police said she asked Ledon to guess her age; he initially guessed 17, then, after being sent “no” affixed with a crying emoji and saying, “im in middleeee,” he guessed 13.
“2 years younger (crying emoji),” the report states she replied. Police said he responded, “OMG,” “LOL” and “let me kno bb.”
Two days later, police said he offered to take her to a movie, which she declined, saying she “can’t be hanging out w ppl who are 25,” but continued texting about negotiating a price for the Fume vape cartridge.
Police said the girl told him that she does not have any money and would “do whatever.”
Ledon told her, “u cute” and the girl later replied, “yea im cute but rmb (remember) im 11,″ saying she didn’t care what he wanted her to do, but “yk (you know) chill,” the report states.
He later replied, authorities said, by sending a photo of a woman with five hot dogs in her mouth, which the girl took to mean oral sex; he would confirm that’s what he wanted, according to his arrest report.
Police said he arranged to drop off the vape at Stafford Park, located across from the school at 501 East Drive, and, after school let out, the victim and two of her classmates saw Ledon drive up in his Toyota truck and throw a bag out the window into the park.
The arrest report states the bag contained “a Fume, edible marijuana and marijuana buds.” Police said the girl took out the Fume and gave the weed to her friend, who threw it out.
Authorities said one of the victim’s friends tipped off a Miami-Dade Schools police officer assigned to the school about what happened. That officer would turn the case over to Miami Springs police, who, with permission of the victim’s mother, took the girl’s phone and assumed her identity in order to communicate with Ledon.
Police said Ledon texted the girl’s phone, now commandeered by the undercover MSPD officer, and again offered to exchange another vape pen for oral sex at Ragan Park, about a 10-minute walk from the school at 530 Ragan Drive.
According to the arrest report, the undercover officer asked repeatedly what Ledon wanted in order to confirm what he was seeking from the middle schooler and he replied with photos of “a girl licking an ice cream cone, a cat licking a banana and a man with a hand to his mouth with the caption ‘gawk gawk’ attached to it.”
Police said he wasn’t deterred by messages stating the girl was a “virgin” and “nervous,” and after going to Ragan Park for the exchange and not seeing the victim, he told her he’d leave the vape on the park’s slide and left.
He arranged yet another attempted exchange of a vape for oral sex on Oct. 25 at Stafford Park, police said — and that’s when cops would move in to arrest him.
The report states that an MSPD officer and sergeant approached him in the park and identified themselves, leading Ledon to run away and ditch his cellphone, which officers later found.
Officers took him into custody in front of a home in the 500 block of Miller Drive, where they said they found a vape cartridge in his pocket and a backpack containing two baggies of cocaine, multiple baggies of cannabis and three more disposable vapes.
Police arrested Ledon on eight felony charges, including attempted lewd and lascivious conduct on a child under 16 and multiple charges pertaining to online child solicitation and drug possession.
Authorities also arrested him on misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of a child and resisting arrest. Ledon was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $74,500 bond as of Thursday afternoon, according to jail records.
In a post to Instagram about Ledon’s arrest Thursday, Miami Springs police encouraged the public to send in additional information.
“If your child attends any of our local schools and has come in contact with Ledon, please contact MSPD immediately,” the post reads in part.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to note that Ledon is facing eight, rather than seven, felony charges and updated to reflect his latest bond total after he appeared in court Thursday.
Local 10 News reporter Rosh Lowe contributed to this story.