Leo Jaramillo spoke to his neighbor twice in six years.
He first spoke with Patrick Koenigstein after Jaramillo and his two daughters moved next door in 2008. A woman living with Koenigstein at the time would yell at Jaramillo’s daughters, ages 9 and 12, for making noise on their trampoline.
When Jaramillo asked Koenigstein about it, the burly and combative man just said to stay clear of his woman.
They later spoke for a second time. The woman moved out, and Koenigstein invited Jaramillo over. Jaramillo declined.
"He’s not really friendly," Jaramillo said.
Jaramillo hasn’t talked to his neighbor since then, and he probably never will.
On Aug. 27, Koenigstein, 56, drove to meet a 14-year-old girl he met online.
Instead, he found a GPD officer and became another arrest in a five-day undercover operation.
More than two months have passed since Operation Panther, when authorities arrested 22 men they said tried to solicit sex with minors. Since then, the men’s friends, family, neighbors and students have reflected on the accusations.
Since his release from jail Aug. 27, with payment of a $75,000 bond, Koenigstein has painted his house and left. But even with a realtor’s sign on the front lawn, Jaramillo and his roommate, Sherry Birchfield, can’t forget the accusations against their former neighbor.
"There is a predator next door and that is the scariest thing in the whole wide world," Birchfield, 50, said.
• • •
About three months ago, Gainesville Police Detective John Madsen lead a task force.
Eleven state and federal detectives came together under the Internet Crimes Against Children task force for the first undercover operation of its kind since July 2013. They posed as minors and reached out to more than 2,000 people.
By Sept. 1, authorities arrested 22 men, including two UF students, a Santa Fe College student and a Santa Fe professor.
"I’m no longer surprised," Madsen said after a press conference Sept. 1. "Rarely, I get surprised anymore."
As the operation came to a close, the court process was just beginning. As of press time, each of the 22 men who were arrested pleaded not guilty, and 14 are still behind bars.
Detectives started new projects after the conference and wished to stay away from the media, said GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias.
After about 100 online messages and a visit to 11 suspects’ homes, everyone declined to comment — with the exception of four people, including Jaramillo.
• • •
For Paulette and Wayne Grant, their son’s arrest brought back an all-too familiar feeling.
Courtney Grant, now 27, was released from jail in 2013 after serving more than eight years for manslaughter.
After Operation Panther, Paulette’s daughter called and said Courtney was in jail again.
They heard the charges against Courtney in court, and dark memories of his last arrest caught up with them.
Paulette said her son had a girlfriend at the time, and it’s not in her son’s character to abuse a child.
"When we got him out, he said, ‘Mom, when I was talking, the girl was 18,’" she said.
Wayne said his son works in the High Springs community and strived to improve his life after getting out of jail.
"He was more frustrated with himself because he disappointed us," Wayne said. "We expect more from him than that."
Courtney was released from the Alachua County Jail on Aug. 29 on a $100,000 bond.
• • •
More than 1,000 miles from Gainesville, Kevin Davila tried to make sense of new accusations against an old friend.
Davila had lived in a Queens homeless shelter with Raul Ellington, now 22, and was drawn to what he called Ellington’s motivated attitude.
"He was one of those kids who wanted to follow his dreams," Davila said. "He was going to school and being a good kid."
He said Ellington left the shelter when his mom found an apartment, and he would later meet a woman with two children. After having a third child, the couple moved to Gainesville.
On Aug. 29 at about 4:30 a.m., Gainesville Police booked Ellington into the Alachua County Jail on two charges for obscene communication and one for a public order crime.
As of press time, the public order crime of using a two-way communication device to commit a felony was dropped. The court denied Ellington’s request for a lower bond, and he remains in jail on a $125,000 bond.
As the trial continues, Davila ponders from his New York home whether Ellington is capable of the charges that keep him behind bars.
"I’ve never seen Raul like that," Davila said.
• • •
Manuela Osorio said she feels disgusted by the accusations against her former professor.
The Santa Fe political science student took a statistics class last Spring with Kevin Kasper, now a former Santa Fe math professor and suspect in Operation Panther. She said the class included underage dual-enrollment students.
Police said Kasper sent sexual emails and texts to an officer he thought was the parent of a 14-year-old girl, and he arranged to have sex with his or her daughter.
As of press time, Kasper’s LinkedIn profile said, "My primary objectives are to be the best husband, father, and professor possible."
Osorio said Kasper seemed like a dedicated father when he talked about his family in class, making the accusations even more disturbing.
On Sept. 24, the court reduced Kasper’s bond from $25,000 for each of his three charges to $10,000 each for two charges, and he was released on his own recognizance for the third charge, according to court documents.
Under the conditions of his release, Kasper is not to contact minors other than his own children, use the Internet, travel outside the state or leave a specific Lake City home. He is monitored by a GPS device, according to the documents.
Osorio said she wasn’t directly affected by the accusations, but they made her question the future.
"It just makes me uncomfortable that no matter where we work or where we go to school, there can be someone to sexually harass us," she said.
Contact Giuseppe Sabella at gsabella@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @Gsabella
