Naples man charged with trying to solicit sex from teen online

The 14-year-old girl Anthony Mallon thought he was chatting with online wasn’t a 14-year-old at all.

Instead, it was Collier County sheriff’s investigator Sotiere Nicholson of the Sheriff’s Office’s special crimes unit.

At about 1 p.m. on Tuesday deputies arrested Mallon, of 1290 Highlands Drive, Naples, at the Coastland Center mall food court for attempting to solicit a child online. Mallon, 34, thought he was meeting the 14-year-old girl for sex, the Sheriff’s Office reported. He even brought the fictional girl a rose.

Nicholson first made contact with Mallon on a March afternoon while viewing an online chat-room called “Ft. Myers,” a Sheriff’s Office report revealed. Mallon sent him an instant message and asked for a picture. Nicholson told Mallon he didn’t have a picture, but described himself as a thin 14-year-old girl with long blond hair.

“When you’re online and you’re on a computer, you’re not face to face,” Nicholson said. “You can be who you want to be.”

Nicholson continued having online conversations with Mallon while posing as the 14-year-old girl. They discussed topics of a sexual nature, the Sheriff’s Office reported, and Mallon even sent Nicholson several photographs of nude body parts.

“He sent me graphic pictures of himself, certain body parts,” Nicholson said. “This can happen in anybody’s house.”

In early June, Mallon suggested a meeting so he and the fictional girl could have sex. The Sheriff’s Office report said Mallon told Nicholson he didn’t just want sex — he wanted the two to be friends. He also told Nicholson that he had an extremely high sex drive.

On Monday, Nicholson received an e-mail from Mallon suggesting that they meet at the food court of the Coastland Center mall the next day. He said he would bring a rose for the girl, the Sheriff’s Office reported.

Shortly after 1 p.m., Mallon walked into the mall wearing a white ball cap and a white shirt with stripes on the sleeves. He also had a rose in his hand. But instead of meeting a young girl, he met Nicholson, who identified himself as a sheriff’s deputy.

Mallon was charged with using a computer to solicit a child to complete an illegal act, and three counts of electronic transmission of information that is harmful to a minor. Mallon never has been arrested before in Collier County, the Sheriff’s Office reported, and he is not listed in the state of Florida’s online sexual offender database.

Mallon said he’d never done this before, Nicholson said.

“I can’t get inside his head, but the investigation I’m working on says this could have happened before,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson said it is important for parents to be involved with their children’s lives when it comes to computers and to take the time to learn what programs their kids use.

He also had a message for adults in Collier County who prey on children.

“I want to put you away if you want to hurt kids in Collier County,” Nicholson said.