Man, 25, Sent Teen Nude Photos: Police

TARPON SPRING, FL — The Tarpon Springs Police Department has announced the arrest of a 25-year-old Palm Harbor man following an 8-month investigation into possible online sex crimes.

According to the agency, its investigation into Charles Eric Dudley’s alleged activities began when the mother of a 13-year-old girl contacted authorities in August 2016 to file a report.

“Dudley later made contact with an undercover detective posing to be a 13-year-old female child, and subsequently sent five explicit nude photographs, claiming to be of him,” a Tuesday afternoon email announcing Dudley’s arrest said.

Detectives say Dudley knew the child he was communicating with online was supposed to be 13, the email said. “On several occasions, (he) advised he preferred girls of that age. Dudley expressed wanting to have sexual intercourse and oral sex with the 13-year-old female child undercover profile.”

After his arrest, police say Dudley confessed and told detectives he created a fake Facebook account that was used to send nude photos to the 13-year-old. “He then traveled to Anderson Park, in Tarpon Springs with a minor child in his custody, and was apprehended and arrested,” the email said.

Police say he did not arrange to have intercourse with the undercover detective posing as the 13-year-old on the date of his arrest, but he had done so previously. Dudley, however, canceled those meetings, police said.

Dudley told authorities “he would have never ‘actually crossed the line’ and had sex with a child,” the email said.

Detectives say their investigation revealed that Dudley may have targeted multiple girls in Pinellas and Pasco counties.

Anyone with information in the case or about other possible victims is asked to call Det. Scarpati at 727-939-4499.

Dudley currently faces five counts of transmission of harmful materials to a minor, police said. He was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on Monday night and was later released in lieu of $50,000 bond, according to jail records.

Booking photo courtesy of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office