Car salesman wanted an underage girl for cuddles, baths and sex. He’ll get a cellmate.
A Leesburg car salesman who posted an online advertise identifying himself as a “Daddy” who wanted to “cuddle, bathe and play with a young woman” found “Samantha.”
But, “Samantha” turned out to be Port St. Lucie police Det. Alisha Hardison, working undercover online. So, 38-year-old Jonathan Mahowald will be bathing in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempting to use a means of interstate commerce to entice a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.
Mahowald will be sentenced Oct. 18 to a minimum of 10 years. He’ll have to serve at least 85 percent of that, then have a lifetime of supervised release.
Mahowald’s admission of facts says on June 28, 2018, he posted in the “Guys for Women” section of Doublelist.com, ‘’Average fatherly 37-year-old looking to cuddle, bath (sp), and play wïth young woman. I am married but she doesn’t enjoy or fit the persona so she let’s me keep a pet of sort.’‘
Hardison saw the ad and answered eight days later, “heyy, I saw your ad on Doublelist, whats up??” and gave Mahowald a way to respond via email. He did, asking “What’s your Saturday night look like?” and eventually gave her a cell phone number so they could talk via text.
As their communication continued, Mahowald warned “Samantha” that it can be inappropriate and dangerous to answer adult personals. He, then, asked where she lived. Upon seeing “Port St. Lucie,” Mahowald said he has kids her age and “that is quite a drive.”
Though already identifying himself via email address and cell phone number, Mahowald sent a facial picture and said he was a car salesman. Hardison found him listed among the employees at Leesburg’s Key Scales Ford.
He also sent to the person he thought was 14-year-old “Sammie,” a photo “of his exposed penis in his hand, as he stood in a bathroom stall, claiming he just took the photo at work. And, on July 12, a nine-second video of him “masturbating his exposed penis, while he was lying down.”
Less than an hour later, Hardison accepted Mahowald’s invitation to get an app for video phone calls and put tape over her webcam to obscure her actual image. Once a video chat confirmed Mahowald was who all his offered information said he was, Hardison cut the video call, using technological problems as the reason.
Mahowald, his admission says, felt moved to send another photo of his penis and asked “Samantha” what she would do if he showed up in that manner. He also inquired what she used for self-pleasure as “I want to know if I’ll fit.”
On July 17, 2018, he decided it was time to act and arranged a meeting with “Samantha” at the McDonald’s inside the Walmart at 1675 NW St. Lucie West Blvd. He requested she “dress sexy,” preferably in a sundress. Hardison switched the meeting to inside a McDonald’s at 1750 SW St. Lucie West Blvd.
While making the two and a half hour drive, Mahowald asked “Samantha” to tease him. Instead, she got him to tell her what he wanted to do to her. He answered he was coming in a family minivan to give them plenty of room.
Upon Mahowald arriving at the McDonald’s and “Samantha” texting him that she wasn’t coming out of the McDonald’s to meet him, he left but was stopped in the next block by police. He told them he was in Port St. Lucie for the beach.
The arresting cops told Mahowald Port St. Lucie doesn’t have a beach. That was after they removed a loaded black 9mm gun from his waistband.
This story was originally published July 28, 2019 at 10:33 AM with the headline "Car salesman wanted an underage girl for cuddles, baths and sex. He’ll get a cellmate.."
