Professional golfer Dan Bowling was arrested by the police for sexting a person who was an undercover detective posing as a 15-year-old girl with the sole aim to protect children and nab pedophiles who are lurking on online platforms.
The 26-year-old golfer had been chatting up the detective acting as an underage teenage girl since the start of April and their conversations quickly began to turn sexual in just 24 hours, Florida police reported.
Bowling asked to meet the person for sex and traveled to the location in the hopes of hooking up with a minor girl but was arrested by the police on the spot and is now currently held in custody for trying to have sex with a minor.
The Orlando Police Department said in a statement obtained by People Magazine that Bowling's conversation with the detective posing as a girl ''turned sexual in nature within the first 24 hours and intensified quickly,'' and also called him a ''dangerous online predator as he arrived to meet up with the decoy.''
The golfer is now facing several charges including obscene communication with a minor in sexual nature, traveling to meet with a minor, and attempted lewd and lascivious molestation of children, the police said.
It is reported that Bowling had first contacted the detective posing as a girl in AdChat and despite the undercover decoy mentioned the age 15, the golfer initiated sexual advances while chatting knowing that it's a minor.
Jennifer Wing, from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force revealed that though Bowling's arrest should be lauded, she said there are still many more men out there harassing minor girls for sex and everyone needs to be booked as per the law.
''Unfortunately, there are potentially hundreds of predators like Mr. Bowling online. I hope news of today's arrest encourages parents to be more proactive in monitoring their children's lives online,'' she said to People Magazine.
Crimes against children online is on the rise and just a few days ago a global network of pedophile website was busted by the German police which contained thousands of pictures and videos of minors in compromising positions. Four people have been arrested at the moment for connection to the website and it is expected many more would be rounded up as the investigation is ongoing.
