BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A Palm Bay man was arrested on Thursday and accused of showing pornography to an underage girl and sexually battering her in secret, according to the police department.
In an affidavit, police said they were contacted about the incident around 2:45 a.m. on Feb. 15, learning that a teen may have been raped.
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The victim told police that over an hour prior, she had been crying, and a man in the home — identified as 43-year-old Patrick Champion — came up and began tickling her to make her feel better, the affidavit shows.
Following a brief conversation, Champion then showed her several pornographic videos on his phone while masturbating, police said. According to the affidavit, Champion also tried to molest her, but she turned away and wouldn’t let him.
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Around this time, another person in the home awoke and realized Champion wasn’t in bed with her, police said. She then found Champion and accused him of raping the girl, police added.
According to police, the victim claimed that up until that point, she’d never viewed pornography with Patrick and had never engaged in sexual conduct with him.
In a later interview with Champion, he told police that he understood the accusations, but he denied watching pornographic videos with the teen or doing anything sexual with her, police said.
However, a search of Champion’s phone showed that he had searched for pornography within the timeframe that the teen claimed he had shown her those videos, investigators explained.
Further investigation yielded text conversations between Champion and the victim in which they discussed having sexual contact, court records show.
Police said they again contacted the teen, who told them that in the weeks before Valentine’s Day, Champion had been drinking and began flirting with her. They later watched pornographic videos together, and he persuaded her into trying to have sex, police said.
Champion and the teen then went to a camper on the property to continue their “sexual engagement” in secrecy, police said. The same thing happened later on the night of Valentine’s Day, according to the affidavit.
Detectives said they learned from the victim that she didn’t tell the full story before due to embarrassment and fear that Champion would be in trouble.
Champion was arrested on Thursday night and faces two counts of using a computer to seduce or solicit a child, three counts of distributing obscene material to a minor and eight counts of sexual battery against a teen victim.
He is held on bond of $315,000.
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