Alachua County Sheriff Deputies arrested another man in connection with Operation Panther on Tuesday afternoon.
About 5:25 p.m. Tuesday, Scott Michael Henson, 31, reportedly spoke with an undercover officer, whom he thought was a 13-year-old girl, through email, text messages and phone calls, according to a police report.
The arrest occurred roughly three hours after a press conference, where Gainesville Police officers announced the conclusion of Operation Panther, a five-day undercover operation designed to identify people who solicit sex with minors.
Henson couldn’t meet until Tuesday, so authorities arrested him after the conference, GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias wrote in an email.
Henson sent descriptive messages about what he would do to the girl, according to the report.
He told the officer, who was posing as the girl, they could form a secret relationship, despite mentioning several times he was worried about going to prison, according to the report.
Henson, an Ocala resident, drove with a suspended driver’s license to the meeting, according to the report.
Deputies arrested Henson on two charges of obscene communication and a charge of unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Contact Giuseppe Sabella at gsabella@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @Gsabella
