BARTOW — A Georgia man are arrested on Wednesday, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office noted, after he sent nude images of himself by text to the cellphone of the person he called his “sexy wife.”
The only problem, the sheriff’s office noted, is that the two were not married — and the girl is 13-years old.
Derrick R. Serrano, 22, of Pearson, Georgia, was arrested after Polk detectives had found a ‘selfie’ photo they said is of Serrano naked on the young girl’s cell phone. He was arrested in Georgia and charged with the illegal use of a two-way communication device — a cell phone — to commit a felony, using a computer to seduce, solicit and lure a child, and transmitting harmful material to a minor.
“It appeared Serrano had access to the child victim’s Facebook account and could read messages the victim received from others,” noted Donna C. Wood, the public information officer for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, in her report on the arrest. “Serrano later wrote he wanted to give her a ‘treat’ alone by herself. Serrano then directed the victim to delete their text messages and wrote ‘daddy loves his sexy wife.’ ”
Serrano was arrested on Wednesday after Polk County Sheriff’s detectives got a warrant for his arrest. The investigation had started in October.
Since Serrano was living in Georgia when the investigation started, Polk County deputies contacted detectives with the Atkinson County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia, which responded by sending officers to Serrano’s home, “where he was placed under arrest without incident,” Wood noted.
Last October, the girl’s mother contacted the sheriff’s office after she found nude pictures of Serrano, including photos of his genitals, along with graphic messages on her daughter’s phone.
“When the mother questioned her child about the images and texts, the child advised ‘her boyfriend’ had sent them to her,” Wood wrote.
Serrano was no stranger to the family, and has known the girl since she was born. Before calling the Polk County Sheriff, the mother contacted Serrano and ordered him to stop contacting her daughter, and also restricted her daughter’s use of electronics devices, Wood noted.
Polk detectives began investigating the case, and did a forensics analysis of the girl’s cell phone.
“The conversations with the child victim found during the investigation were manipulative, with the suspect telling the child he wanted her attention and that she should not be texting others,” Wood noted.
Then in December 2014, detectives discovered that the girl had started using a neighbor’s cell phone, and Serrano had been secretly communicating with her again through the mobile messaging app, KIK.
“During the exchanges, graphic images were sent with instructions to the victim to delete all messages,” Wood noted. “During the forensic analysis of the neighbor’s phone, detectives discovered Serrano solicited images from the victim — to which she complied and sent a picture of her breasts. Detectives also located images depicting male genitalia and a selfie photo of a male subject sent to the victim.”
Detectives used those ‘selfie’ photos to confirm Serrano’s identity, which led to the arrest warrant.
Serrano is now in the Atkinson County, Georgia jail on no bond, awaiting extradition to Florida.
The investigation is ongoing, Wood noted.
Contact Freeline Media or at Freelineorlando@gmail.com..
