TITUSVILLE, Fla. – A registered sexual predator was arrested Tuesday in Titusville on allegations of soliciting intimate photos from a woman and arranging a nude photo shoot, then threatening to expose her if she didn't comply with his demands for sex.
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Detectives are also looking into whether there could be other possible victims in the case, News 6 partner Florida Today reported.
“It’s all a part of the investigation right now,” said Amy Matthews, a spokeswoman for the Titusville Police Department. “We’re following up on every lead. If anyone has any information about the suspect, give us a call."
Russell Steven Rowe, 41, of Cocoa, was arrested on charges of attempted sexual battery and extortion after the victim called police to report the scheme. Detectives arrested Rowe about 9 p.m. Tuesday and discovered a police scanner, a tablet, a body camera and a digital camera in his car after undercover investigators set up a meeting with him and the victim.
Rowe, a former stepbrother of a Titusville police officer and identified as having Joker tattoos, was arrested in November 1998 on charges of promoting the sexual performance of a child, according to records from the Florida Department of Corrections. He was sentenced in 2002 to nine years in state prison.
In the latest case, the woman told police that she was contacted over the weekend by someone on Facebook named "Rob" and that Rob asked her to send nude photos in exchange for several hundred dollars in cash.
The unidentified woman complied, reports show.
Rob told the woman that the photos were of such poor quality that he could not pay her and volunteered to send a photographer to her to take better images, reports show. The woman agreed, officials said.
The photographer, later identified as Rowe, asked her to participate in a nude photo shoot with him, and she agreed, officials said.
The photographer convinced the woman to participate in a second shoot, this time making sexual contact with the woman, officials said. The woman was stunned and left abruptly, reports show.
Police said Rowe contacted the woman again, telling her to take more photos and have sexual contact with him or he would send the pictures from the photo shoot to the Department of Children and Families, her workplace and her family. The woman called police, who carried out a recorded phone call.
Police said Rowe admitted that he met the woman for the photo shoots. He also gave the woman an option to give him $200 or have sex in exchange for the photos, reports show.
Rowe was booked into the Brevard County Jail Complex.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Titusville Police Department at 321-264-7862.
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