A detective posing as a teen in a chat room set up the rendezvous that led to the arrest of the Wildwood man.
By JIM ROSS
Published February 25, 2004
BEVERLY HILLS - A man came to a Beverly Hills parking lot Tuesday morning expecting to meet a 15-year-old girl and begin a sexual relationship, authorities say.
Instead, the man met law officers and was arrested.
The charge: luring or enticing a child to engage in sexual activity by using an online service.
Kevin Lodwick, 43, of Wildwood, was taken to the Citrus County jail, where bail was set at $10,000. He remained behind bars Tuesday evening.
The arrest was the work of the Citrus County and Hernando County sheriff's offices, as well as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. All are members of North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Michael Baute, a Citrus detective, said during an interview Tuesday that Lodwick "met" a 15-year-old girl - actually, it was Baute posing as a 15-year-old girl - in an Internet chat room.
The detective said Lodwick engaged in sexual banter with the person, asking if he could buy her lingerie, which she then would model for him. He also said he wanted to "make love" to his cyber-acquaintance in a hotel room.
Baute said a rendezvous was set for Tuesday morning in the parking lot of the Winn-Dixie plaza off County Road 491. Law officers arrested Lodwick, who has no prior arrests, without incident about 9:30 a.m.
Also Tuesday, law officers armed with a search warrant searched Lodwick's home and seized numerous computers and computer items, which will be processed as potential evidence at FDLE's Tampa computer lab, Baute said.
The detective said that, after the arrest, Lodwick told law officers that his computer probably contained child pornography.
"If it hadn't been us he was talking to, it would have been a 15-year-old child," Baute said.
