Man met with child he knew from the internet, cops say. He’s a registered sex offender

Already a registered sex offender, a Plant City man has been arrested for another sex-related crime, this time involving an 11-year-old child, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.

Stephen M. Roa, 30, of Plant City, is now facing multiple felony charges after an investigation launched by the sheriff’s office on Aug. 23 found Roa traveled to Sarasota County to see a girl he met on social media for sex, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

On Aug. 23, the girl’s mother told investigators her daughter said she met a man on the live stream social media site “Bigo Live.” The conversation moved to the social media app Snapchat and text messages, eventually becoming sexual and involving the trading of pictures, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The girl told officials she met the man, who was later identified as Roa, on Aug. 22 while walking to school in Sarasota County, the affidavit stated.

Investigators learned Roa told the girl he was 19 years old, according to the affidavit.

Thursday, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office investigators executed an arrest warrant at Roa’s Plant City home with assistance from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Roa faces charges of lewd or lascivious molestation on a victim under 12-years-old, traveling to meet a minor for sex, seduce, solicit, lure or entice a minor, and failure to provide internet identifiers within 48 hours of sex offender registration.

He is a registered sex offender after a 2011 arrest for lewd or lascivious exhibition on a victim under 16. Roa’s probation was terminated in Feb.ruary 2016.

A sex offender who registers a new address must provide their email and social media account information when they register their address, which must be within 48 hours of the move, the sheriff’s office noted, citing the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Roa, according to the sheriff’s office, did not provide his Bigo Live or Snapchat account information to law enforcement.

“Now is the time to dig deep and really be relentless,” said Saraosta County Sheriff Tom Knight in a news release. “Our children are our future; they are our priority and they should be protected from predators like this man. Now more than ever parents need to look at their child’s phone, learn passwords, demand answers and always contact law enforcement if something doesn’t seem right.”