A Steak ’n Shake milkshake maker was arrested Monday following a multi-agency sting operation earlier this month designed to capture offenders seeking sex online with children.
Martin L. Charles Palmatier, 22, was taken into custody after speaking with a Marion County sheriff’s deputy outside the closed Larocco’s III restaurant at 5545 E Silver Springs Blvd. The deputy and a sergeant had been on the way to the nearby Silver River Inn to make contact with Palmatier when he flagged them down in front of the closed restaurant.
On Aug. 2, as the sheriff’s department was conducting an undercover joint operation alongside several other federal, state and local agencies, an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s detective conducted an online conversation with Palmatier while posing as a 14-year-old girl named “Emma,” a Marion County Sheriff’s Office report states, adding that the detective also is a member of North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
The detective was utilizing a social media platform called “MeetMe” when he first made contact with Palmatier but then started communicating via text messages and told Palmatier that Emma was 14. Palmatier wrote back, “It’s fine,” the report says.
At 7:16 on the night of Aug. 2, Palmatier requested nude photos of Emma and sent explicit photos of himself to the detective. Palmatier requested to meet with Emma and suggested they meet at an Ocala Wal-Mart.
The sheriff’s office also released a portion of the explicit conversation Palmatier had with the detective. He suggested two meet for sex and offered explicit details, suggested Emma talk dirty to him and expressed a desire to be called “Daddy” and “Master,” the report says.
During the conversation, the report notes, the detective made several comments alluding to Emma’s youth and inexperience. But Palmatier “continued to engage in sexually explicit conversations and attempt to meet with Emma to have sexual contact,” the report adds.
On Monday, Palmatier admitted to having the MeetMe profile and using it to contact Emma. He also admitted to sending the explicit pictures and said the body part shown was his, the report says.
Initially, Palmatier told the deputy the he had blocked Emma once he found out that she was 14. But when the deputy told him that he had enough evidence to prove otherwise, Palmatier recanted his story and admitted that he knew she 14 before he sent the photos, the report says.
Palmatier also initially said he had no plans to meet Emma, but when questioned further about some of the things he wrote in the text messages, he stated, “Good point.”
Palmatier was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with obscene communication (using a computer to solicit/lure a child) and using a two-way device to facilitate a felony. He was being held on $4,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in a Marion County Court on Oct. 2 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges.
Last week, Marion County Sheriff Billy Wood held a press conference announcing the arrest of seven men as part of the sting operation titled “Can’t Touch This.” Undercover officers had spent more than 60 hours online and their efforts resulted in the arrests after the men made arrangements to have sex with a girl or boy between the ages of 13-15, Woods said.
The suspects previously arrested are Nathan Collins, 21, of Ocala; Anthony Michael Guiliani, 41, of Inverness; Nicholas Samuel Rogers, 25, of Ocala; Christopher Molinaro, 20 of Ocala; Geoffrey Johnson, 28, of Okahumpka; Charles A. Smith, 34, of Gainesville; and Donald Ambros Willingham, 71, of Williston.
“Luckily, instead of meeting a child, they got to meet my SWAT team and Ocala PD’s SWAT team,” Woods said. “And we put them in handcuffs.”
At the press conference, Woods called all seven who were arrested “worthless human beings” and vowed to continue to do whatever it takes to put child predators behind bars.
“I will use every means that I have and every resource that I have to hunt you down and bring you to justice,” he said.
The other law enforcement agencies involved in the sting included: Ocala Police Department, Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Gainesville Police Department, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Tallahassee Police Department, Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, Levy County Sheriff’s Office, Chiefland Police Department, the U.S. Marshals and the State’s Attorney’s Office.