Dylan Joseph Thibodeau: Man cycles 3 HOURS to meet 14-year-old for sex, arrested by undercover cop instead
NORTH PORT, FLORIDA: A Punta Gorda man allegedly rode his bicycle all the way up to North Port to have sex with a minor he believed to be a 14-year-old. He is now facing federal charges. The case started in August when 23-year-old Dylan Joseph Thibodeau, of Punta Gorda, began texting an individual he thought was a teenager, per US Attorney Roger B Handberg.
Well, the meeting wasn't a usual one and brought a huge surprise to Thibodeau. The "teen" was, however, an undercover cop who texted with him for three and a half months. The suspect was arrested on December 3 in North Port when he reached the decided venue of their much-awaited rendezvous.
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“In August 2022, Thibodeau began texting with an individual he believed to be a 14-year-old child,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida said in a press release. “Over the course of three and a half months, Thibodeau made plans to engage in oral and anal sex and impregnate the child before she turned 18 years old. Thibodeau also requested that the child produce nude images of herself to send him and he sent the purported child sexually explicit photos of himself,” the release added.
Officials said that a meeting was scheduled on December 3, which prompted Thibodeau to ride “his bicycle approximately three hours from Punta Gorda to North Port,” which is a distance of about 15 miles. “Law enforcement apprehended Thibodeau when he arrived at the predetermined location,” officials said, and he was later charged “with the enticement of a minor and transfer of obscene material to a minor,” they added.
Florida man rode bike for 3 hours to meet 'child' for sex, authorities say https://t.co/FSJNo1xSLL pic.twitter.com/AUsSvCn8u5
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) December 5, 2022
Officials continued, “If convicted on all counts, Thibodeau faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison,” adding that the perp "made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Julie S. Sneed (on Dec. 5) and was ordered detained pending trial.” According to the US Attorney’s Office, the case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to deal with the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The initiative employs "federal, state, and local resources" to "locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims" and is led by United States Attorneys’ Offices, the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), and Project Safe Childhood marshals.
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MEAWW previously reported a similar case in which a man walked 351 miles from Indiana to Wisconsin to have sex with a teen only to find an undercover cop was waiting to arrest him. 32-year-old Tommy Lee Jenkins walked from his home in an Indianapolis suburb all the way to Wisconsin hoping to meet Kylee, the 14-year-old girl he was grooming online.
However, when he finally reached Wisconsin on October 10, 2019, there was a surprise waiting for him: "Kylee" was actually an undercover cop waiting to arrest him. "Our nation faces an epidemic of child sexual abuse, with the Internet making it too easy for predators to communicate with children across the country," United States Attorney Matthew D Krueger said at the time. "The Justice Department is committed to working with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to prosecute child sexual abuse aggressively," he added.