Police have arrested a state juvenile detention officer after they say he tried to meet a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity.
The ninth-grader at Boca Ciega High School approached a school resource officer Wednesday morning and reported that Parris C. Woods, 27, sent her a text message with photos of himself nude and in obscene poses, police said.
The girl had never met Woods, a state employee with the Department of Juvenile Justice. But she had been incarcerated in July at the Pinellas Juvenile Detention Center in Largo where he works, said Lt. Robert Vincent of the Gulfport police.
Vincent said it's unclear whether there are more victims.
"It's kind of hard to tell. The man has access to all sorts of information and kids there where he works," Vincent said. "That's something we're looking into right now."
Police say Woods wanted to arrange a meeting with the girl, so they set up an appointment at a convenience store at 15th Avenue S and 58th Street. Police and officials from the attorney general's Tampa region cybercrime task force were waiting there to arrest Woods.
Woods, who has no prior criminal history in Florida, was charged with traveling to engage in sexual activity with a minor, providing harmful material to a minor and soliciting a minor for sexual activity.
Frank Penela, a spokesman for the Department of Juvenile Justice, said Woods was terminated as soon as the department heard of his arrest. Woods had worked there less than six months and was still on probation, so the department didn't need to follow a firing process, Penela said.
"We don't tolerate this," Penela said. "We do not want people like this taking care of our kids."
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080924/SS08/80924097/1075
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