A man was arrested for luring an Escondido eighth grader to fly with him to Tampa after meeting him online through a Playstation video game, police said. A judge on Wednesday ordered him held without bail.
The 14-year-old boy was to be reunited with his family as news spread of the lurid case, disturbing particularly to parents of legions of youth who converse through the internet via their video games. Florida police told media that the parents suspected their son was being preyed on after finding sexually explicit photos and material sent to the boy's phone. After the parents contacted the police and the sender, he changed his phone number, eluding investigators.
Arrested at the Tampa International Airport was Tony McLeod, 36, who police had gotten court approval to track by his cell phone Monday to Southern California. An ABC Tampa affiliate quoted police saying that once they learned McLeod and the boy were in flight to Tampa, they and U.S. Marshals surprised McLeod, who had the boy with him, early Tuesday. Late Tuesday night, a department spokeswoman said Tampa police arrested him on charges of kidnapping, interfering with custody, traveling to meet a minor and transmission of harmful material to a minor. They said he had used a cellphone to send naked pictures of himself to the boy.
Tabloid media dubbed McLeod "the Playstation Predator."
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Correction: An earlier version of this story misnamed the victim's town as Encinitas. It is Escondido.
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