A 27-year-old Ocklawaha man who claimed to be trying to teach a young boy “how to pick up a girlfriend” is behind bars on multiple charges, including capital sexual battery.
The victim’s mother contacted the Marion County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday after claiming to find nude photographs of her underage son on William Ronald Harrison III’s phone. The images depicted Harrison committing sexual acts on the victim, who is under the age of 12, a sheriff’s office report states.
During a subsequent interview, the victim’s mother told a sheriffs’ detective that she took screenshots of the images and sent them to her phone to provide to law enforcement. All four images located on Harrison’s phone were sexual in nature, the report says.
During an audio‐recorded phone call, Harrison said he was “doing this to teach the victim” and that he was “trying to teach the victim how to pick up a girlfriend.” He was then arrested and charged with one count of capital sexual battery on a victim under 12; four counts of possession of obscene material depicting child sex conduct; four counts of possession, promoting or presenting material depicting child sex conduct and one count of lewd and lascivious battery promoting sexual activity with a victim under 16.
Harrison was being held on no bond and his next court date hasn’t yet been determined, jail records show.