JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man traveled from New Jersey to northeast Florida to meet a girl for sex and planned to take her back home with him, according to the Clay County Sheriff's Office.
Jeremy Gates, 27, is charged with traveling to meet a minor, interference with custody, use of a two-way device to facilitate a felony and two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior on a person under 16.
According to an arrest affidavit, the New Jersey resident traveled to Jacksonville to meet a Clay County girl under the age of 16. Detectives said the girl was listed as a runaway.
When Gates was captured by police in Jacksonville, then handed over to the Clay County Sheriff's Office, detectives said they searched his phone and found several messages exchanged between Gates and the girl.
The messages were sexual in nature about what he and the girl were going to do when he arrived in Florida, the arrest affidavit said.
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith believes local officers may have saved the young girl's life.
"That's why it is so important, whether your child is a runaway or not, to understand who they are communicating with, not just online but also on a cellphone," Smith said.
Detectives also said when Gates was captured, he had train tickets for both himself and the girl. According to the affidavit, he planned to take the girl back with him to New Jersey.
Smith said this sounds like a precursor to child sex-trafficking by developing a relationship with the minor.
"One-in-six runaways that are reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are lured into the sex trade. It happens so often," Smith said. "These guys can make up to $200,000 a year per child, involving them in the sex trade."
Gates was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Clay County Jail on $175,000 bond.
The girl is believed to back home with her mother.