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The Villages
Friday, March 29, 2024

Man who recently posed as officer jailed for trying to arrange sex with a child

Jonathan C. Shaddix

An Apopka man who made the news recently for portraying a police officer has been arrested for allegedly attempting to solicit sex with a child in Marion County.

Jonathan C. Shaddix, 32, of Apopka, was arrested Tuesday by Orange County sheriff’s deputies and has since been released on bond. He first came to the attention of detectives from the Marion County sheriff’s Office and the Ocala Police Department last month during a sting titled “Can’t Touch This” that targeted child predators.

Detectives claim that Shaddix, who worked as a security guard for Blue Peak Realty in Tampa, made contact with them believing he was speaking with the parent or guardian of a 14-year-old girl who was looking for someone to travel to Marion County to have sex with the child.

During the conversations, detectives say, Shaddix gave lewd descriptions of sexual acts he wanted to do the girl but eventually ended the conversation with detectives and never traveled to Marion County to follow through with meeting the 14-year-old.

That led detectives to go to Shaddix’s Apopka home at 220 Longhorn Drive in Apopka this past Friday to speak with him about the investigation. During the conversation, he admitted that the photo used on the online chatting account was his and could only have come from his cell phone, the report says.

The report notes that Shaddix’s cell number matched the one used to chat with detectives. And an audio recording of a conversation between Shaddix and a detective discussing arrangements to meet the child was confirmed to be his voice, the report adds.

During their questioning, Shaddix grabbed his cell phone from a detective’s hands and went to the back of his home. Detectives were able to recover the phone but discovered that Shaddix had tampered with it to make it more difficult for them to access.

Shaddix subsequently was arrested Wednesday night by Orange County sheriff’s deputies for tampering with evidence, as well as the Marion County warrant for soliciting or attempting to solicit a parent or guardian of a child to engage in sexual acts through computer services.

Shaddix made headlines last week when he arrested in Lake County and charged with impersonating a law enforcement official. That arrest followed a “traffic stop” Shaddix conducted on another motorist on State Road 46 near Carroll Avenue in Sorrento. He told a dispatcher that the driver of a 2009 black Mazda was driving recklessly, so he activated flashing lights and a siren in his white Chevy Impala to stop the car, a Lake County Sheriff’s Office report states.

At the time of his arrest, Shaddix was dressed in khaki tactical-style pants and a tactical equipment vest with a gold badge sewn on it that read “Security Enforcement Officer.” He also was wearing a belt that contained handcuffs and “what appeared to be a firearm and taser or stun gun-type device” that was determined to a pepper-ball gun, the report says.

Shaddix’s vehicle had no markings or insignias on it but had multiple flashing white LED lights activated, as well as a spotlight on the driver’s side door and a push bumper like those commonly installed on police vehicles.

In mid-August, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office was joined by law enforcement officers from 15 other agencies during the initial phase of an operation titled “Can’t Touch This.” Undercover officers spent more than 60 hours online and their efforts resulted in the arrests of seven men who made arrangements to have sex with a girl or boy between the ages of 13-15, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said.

An eighth arrest followed on Aug. 27 when a Steak ’n Shake milkshake maker was taken into custody following an online conversation with a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl on the social media platform “MeetMe.” During that conversation, the man suggested the girl talk dirty to him and expressed a desire to be called “Daddy” and “Master,” a sheriff’s office report says.

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