According to Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly, investigators began targeting escorts about two weeks ago after receiving multiple complaints about local prostitution ads on Backpage.
Flagler deputies began their sting Tuesday, posing as customers and attempting to set up meetings with sex workers who posted ads on the site. On the second day, the sting shifted and began focusing on customers. Investigators posted an ad on Backpage and other sites and used an undercover deputy posing as a prostitute. That strategy led to more than calls and texts from men wishing to meet the decoy at her hotel room at a Days Inn in Palm Coast.
Deputies arrested two men Wednesday, eight more Thursday, and another pair early Friday morning. The men range in age from 19 to 66 and came from as far away as Jupiter, the listed address for year-old Jason Brewer.
All but two of the suspects have been released, many spending only a few hours in jail, according to booking records. Jeffrey Nowden Jr. Nowden, of Palm Coast, was also charged with possession of heroin, possession of cocaine with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia in addition to the soliciting charge. He and Hutton-Debaets were both booked on probation violations as well.
Staly said 15 men visited the hotel room, but three grew leery and left before making any such offers. Nowden showed up with heroin and offered the undercover officer crack cocaine for oral sex, reports show. Watkins is accused of abducting a woman he picked up in Daytona Beach early Monday morning and paid for sex. Investigators said he drove the year-old woman around Volusia and Flagler counties for hours, raping her multiple times before dragging her into a wooded area off Old Kings Road just north of the county line.
