INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A Jensen Beach man was arrested Saturday night after he allegedly solicited sex from a authorities posing as a 14-year-old girl according to a Indian River County Sheriff’s Office press release.
Indian River County Sheriff’s Office Detectives arrested Thomas W. Farlow, 35, of Jensen Beach, on Saturday, June 1, after he arrived at the post office at the 8500 block of State Road 60 to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
Before Farlow left to meet the “girl,” according to the affidavit, he said, “OK. And you aren’t a cop are you?” The undercover officer replied, “Hell no.”
According to authorities, an undercover detective responded to a post on an online classified ad Website in which Farlow was posing as a 48-year-old woman seeking another female to join her and her boyfriend in a sexual encounter. Through a series of email and text conversations, the undercover detective established that Farlow believed he was communicating with a 14-year-old and that an arrangement had been made for him, Farlow, to pick up the minor and engage in oral sex.
On Saturday night, according to the Sheriff’s Office, detectives observed Farlow’s car arrive at the parking lot of the post office at approximately 10 p.m., the agreed upon time and location that had been set up during the email/text conversations.
When approached by investigators, Farlow initially tried to leave the parking lot but stopped when he saw another law enforcement vehicle near the exit. He was taken into custody and found to be in possession of a firearm, gloves, and a length of rope.
Authorities stated that he admitted to being the person who was in communication with whom he thought was a 14-year-old girl. He stated that his intention was to do a good deed and take the youth to her parents and tell them what she was doing. Farlow said he told his wife he would be working that night and told investigators that he told her that so he could come to Vero Beach and go drinking at a bar.
Farlow faces charges of traveling to meet a minor for unlawful sexual activity and lewd computer solicitation of a child. He is being held in the Indian River County Jail on a $100,000 bond.