A 30-year-old man was arrested by Charlotte County deputies after meeting a juvenile girl to exchange marijuana edibles, vapes, and nicotine for sexual acts.
A Port Charlotte mother contacted the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office after having multiple issues with her teenage daughter sneaking out at night. During one of these incidents, the mother turned the girl’s phone over to deputies and granted them permission to access the phone and apps in order to determine where the girl may have gone. During the investigation, deputies discovered a recent string of messages with a man, discussing purchases of vapes, nicotine, and marijuana edibles. These messages turned sexual in nature, advising the girl could provide sex acts instead of paying in cash. The man requested nude photos of the girl and sent nude photos of himself to her. Additionally, he inquired if she was underage, which she confirmed in her response.
Based on the username and photos provided by the suspect, detectives were able to identify the man as Raul Christopher Colon-Ocasio (10/25/1991).
Interviews with the girl revealed that she had met Colon-Ocasio approximately one year ago, and had been buying from him since. This led to detectives contacting the FBI Task Force. A member of the task force then posed as the juvenile in correspondence with Raul, who again proposed to meet to exchange sex acts for nicotine, as well as inquired if the victim had any other juvenile friends who would be willing to arrange similar deals.
A meetup was arranged, at which time Raul was taken into custody. He had a young juvenile in his vehicle at the time, whose parents were contacted and picked her up, unharmed. This juvenile had nothing to do with the investigation but was a passenger at the time.
Before deputies could even read Colon-Ocasio his Miranda rights, he uttered a statement to the effect of “My life is over, I lost everything” and then invoked his right to a lawyer.
Raul Christopher Colon-Ocasio is being held at the Charlotte County Jail on the following charges:
- SEXUAL BATTERY BY 18Y OLDER VICTIM 12Y UNDER 18Y NO PHYSICAL FORCE
- Lewd Lascivious Molestation Victim 12 YOA to 16 YOA Offender 18 YOA or Older
- Using Computer to Seduce Lure a Child
- Traveling to Meet a Minor After Using Computer to Lure Child
- Neglect Child without great bodily harm
“I want to commend my team and thank the FBI Task Force for their immediate efforts to get this predator off the streets. This is disgusting activity from an adult and every parents worst nightmare. Parents, please, make sure you are aware of the dangers lurking online and on mobile apps.”
SHERIFF PRUMMELL