A 45-year-old Kissimmee man faces several charges after an undercover sting that caught him soliciting sex and sending pornographic images to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl, Polk County deputies said.
After an undercover detective for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office posted a profile of the girl on a social media website, Earnest Anthony Jr., of Kissimmee, contacted her, deputies said.
He told the girl he was 20 and had girlfriends in the past who were 13 and 14 years old, deputies said. He asked the girl to be his girlfriend and asked her to send him nude photos of herself, deputies said. Anthony sent nude photos of himself to the girl, deputies said.
Anthony made plans to meet with the girl last Friday and again on Thursday and when he traveled to Polk he was arrested, deputies said.
While searching Anthony’s vehicle, deputies found 41 grams of marijuana, .6 grams of cocaine, sandwich bags, a digital scale and several condoms, deputies said.
Anthony also told detectives he has fathered 20 children between the ages of 1 and 27 with seven women, deputies said.
“Earnest Anthony is the poster child for why we, as the Central Florida ICAC Task Force coordinator, investigate such egregious crimes against children,” said Polk Sheriff Grady Judd. “This suspect went to great lengths to groom, seduce, and attempt to have sex with a young girl. He belongs behind bars where he can’t hurt anyone ever again.”
Anthony was being held in the Polk County Jail on charges of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of marijuana over 20 grams, possession of cocaine with intent to sell, owning a vehicle for drug trafficking, public nuisance, possession of paraphernalia, traveling to meet a minor after using a computer to seduce a child, lewd and lascivious behavior, transmission of material harmful to a minor, use of a computer to seduce a child, unlawful use of two-way device and driving without a valid license.
Anthony is a registered sex offender and has been arrested in the past on charges of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated incest, indecent behavior with a juvenile, forcible rape, cocaine possession, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
