A Florida police officer sent explicit text messages to a 15-year-old boy and tried to entice him to a nude beach, federal prosecutors said.
Juan Antonio Garcia, a 30-year-old cop for the Sewall’s Point Police Department, appeared Friday in Fort Pierce federal court after allegedly sending the explicit texts discovered by the teen’s father in late November, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
A federal criminal complaint claims Garcia, of Stuart, also asked the boy to accompany him to a nude beach in Florida’s St. Lucie County and to perform sexual acts.
“It is alleged that Garcia instructed the minor via text message to put on a condom (which Garcia provide to the minor), masturbate and send Garcia a photograph of the condom after the minor ejaculated,” federal prosecutors said in a statement.
Garcia also told the boy to send him video of himself masturbating and asked whether he would perform oral sex on him, prosecutors said.
The officer then asked the teen to meet him at a park for oral sex on Nov. 23, one day after investigators got the initial report of the alleged texts.
“When Garcia arrived at the park, law enforcement officers apprehended him,” federal prosecutors said.
Court documents obtained by the Miami Herald show Garcia — who was arrested on charges of traveling to meet a minor and using a computer to solicit a minor — knew the boy for about five years prior to allegedly sending the texts.
The boy had also recently started working for Garcia at the officer’s taco truck, telling investigators their texts were initially innocuous before turning racy, WPBF reported.
“You down to try it?” Garcia asked regarding the nude beach, the complaint shows.
“Want to experiment?” the officer allegedly asked the boy at another point.
The boy’s father went to authorities in Martin County on Nov. 22 to report finding the racy texts on his cellphone. Garcia, meanwhile, admitted asking the boy to send him lewd videos and photos following his arrest, according to the criminal complaint.
The Sewall’s Point Police Department has put Garcia on administrative leave without pay pending an ongoing investigation, federal prosecutors said.
Garcia made his first court appearance in the case on Nov. 24. He was released from custody after posting $750,000 bond and was ordered to go on house arrest, WPTV reported.
Garcia, who joined the department five years ago, has a detention hearing set for Friday and is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 17. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison.