PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office and the director of transportation for the St. Johns County School District monitored Tuesday morning a Ponte Vedra Beach neighborhood bus stop, which is directly across the street from where a 19-year-old man arrested on child pornography charges lives.
Neal Buckles, a University of North Florida student, was arrested Thursday on two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of transmission of child pornography.
During an interview with detectives, Buckles admitted to the sexual exploitation a 4-year-old child, according to a Sheriff's Office unredcated arrest report.
A judge ordered Friday that Buckles have no unsupervised contact with children and banned him from using the internet as a conditions of his bond. He bonded out of of the St. Johns County Jail the same day.
Now that Buckles is out of jail, parents said they are concerned because a bus stop on Magnolia Hammock Road is just feet away from where he lives.
"Certainly, we understand that there are concerns because information like this is certainly concerning, especially for those who are parents. I've been one of those types of individuals who has a child. I certainly understand," said SJCSO Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan.
Parents' concerns prompted Mulligan to come out to see the bus stop for himself. He said the location is ideal because there are a lot of neighbors around to keep an eye on things, plus it's away from main road traffic.
Mulligan said he wants to remind parents that Buckles has not been found guilty of anything and investigators are still looking into the claims Buckles made last week, admitting to the sexual exploitation of a 4-year-old child.
"At this standpoint, we have no information that there has been any physical contact with the child. Certainly, those are some of the avenues that we have to explore and do our due diligence, but at this point in time, we have not reached that. That's not something in the purview, currently," Mulligan said.
Al Pantano, the director of transportation for the school district, also went out to the bus stop Tuesday morning. He said they were looking at the number of kids at the bus stop, as well as talking with parents.
Pantano said the school district is aware of the situation and so are the bus drivers.
"Our bus operators are probably the best sensors out there because they are creatures of habit and they repeatedly do the same thing every day, at the same time, at the same place. And so if anything looks out of place, they pick up on things all the time," Pantano said.
The Sheriff's Office said any parents who are concerned should walk their children to and from the bus stop and remain vigilant.