PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – A Putnam County man was arrested Friday for allegedly trying to meet a 15-year-old girl in Palatka for sex, the Putnam County Sheriff’s office said.
Officials said Glenn Dykes, 39, of Interlachen, was arrested after the girl’s mother alerted the sheriff’s office after discovering a disturbing conversation on her daughter’s phone.
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The man brought Harry Potter books, $20, and some blueberry muffins from a gas station, PCSO said.
In June, the mother noticed her daughter had new Harry Potter Legos. When she questioned her daughter she felt something was off in the teen’s explanation and took her cellphone, the sheriff’s office said.
During the course of the investigation, it appears Dykes friend requested the teen on June 11 on social, authorities said. Dykes is married with a 3-year-old and a 6-month-old child in the home, according to PCSO.
“I cannot stress enough the importance parents play in maintaining their children’s contacts and social media accounts,” Sheriff H.D. ‘Gator’ DeLoach said. “This mother trusted her gut instincts that something was not right and protected her child. I commend her diligence as well as her fortitude in bringing this to our attention rather than trying to just be a friend to her child. She stopped her child from being groomed and taken advantage. As to the piece of garbage who solicits children for sex, we will see this case to fruition and that he makes a home first here in our jail and then in prison where he cannot harm children.”
Dykes is accused of lewd and lascivious battery, traveling to meet a minor for sex, obscene communications with a minor and using a cell phone to commit a sex crime.