LARGO, Fla. – A 57-year-old puppeteer from Largo is accused of planning to kidnap children -- specifically toddlers -- in order to torture, rape, and kill them before cooking their body parts on a stove, according to federal documents.
Ronald Brown was arrested by federal agents this week and is on a U.S. Marshal hold in the Pinellas County Jail. Brown lives in the Whispering Pines mobile home park in Largo.
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No one answered his door when WTSP-TV in Tampa visited his home, but visible through the window were puppets, party CDs and a badge from Kidz Zone.
Neighbor Robin Fuchs said she was both terrified and disgusted when she heard the details of the case. She says her children and others play in the area all the time.
"They're all passing his house every morning and afternoon. Some parents aren't home and sending their kids on. They don't know at all," she said.
Brown started his puppeteer company, Puppet Plus, in 1992. On Facebook, Brown brags about performing in schools and malls, even for the Tampa Bay Rays.
His alleged online activity, however, got federal agents interested after Brown and another man were chatting, detectives say, about kidnapping kids and eating them. Investigators said the pair described in detail what they wanted to do with the body parts.
[WARNING: Graphic content]
The conversations are graphic and vile, including the following portion:
"Summer is heating up, should be good pickins."
"It's so hot, the kids are almost naked out there."
"My mouth watered looking at her for sure."
Agents say they captured images, including children in bondage positions, on Brown's computer. Some of the photos, agents say, are of dead children.
According to documents, Brown was targeting a little boy at a local church. He told FBI agents, he wanted to "eat" the child. Brown also admitted in the documents that he wanted to strangle children and that he was in a group on Yahoo! where he discussed his fantasies online.
Agents say Brown had multiple photos of child pornography depicting little boys in severe pain.
Another of Brown's neighbors, Paula Tincher, was asked, "When you hear something like that, what do you think?"
Shaking her head and wincing, she said, "It freaks me out. I have three kids of my own."
Brown will appear in federal court on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in front of U.S. Magistrate Thomas Wilson.