Manatee deputies arrest man accused of luring 5-year-old girl from birthday party, sexually battering her
PALMETTO, Fla. - Deputies in Manatee County arrested a man who they say lured a young girl away from a child's birthday party in order to sexually batter her — and investigators believe there may multiple other victims out there.
The Manatee County Sheriff's Office said the parents of the 5-year-old victim called authorities on Sunday, saying their daughter had been sexually battered while attending a friend's birthday party at a home in Palmetto earlier in the day.
Deputies said 44-year-old Christopher Thompson had attended the neighborhood party and lured the young victim across the street to his house. That's where they said he sexually abused her and forced her to watch child pornography.
Investigators said Thompson then told the 5-year-old not to say anything before they went back to the birthday party.
(Manatee County Sheriff's Office)
When detectives executed a search warrant at Thompson's Palmetto home, they said parents who lived nearby came up and told them they were concerned about their own children.
After reviewing images found in Thompson's home, the sheriff's office said they believe he has "committed lewd and lascivious acts on multiple young females."
"This. This is the devil. When he wakes up every day, all he thinks about is how he can sexually batter another child. That's what he does each and every day. That's his mindset," Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells said. "We know that there’s more victims out there. I want parents to know, if they live by this predator, if they’ve ever seen him before, if they think there’s a possibility he’s ever been around their kids alone, they need to talk with their children, because this man is the devil."
RELATED: ‘No one is immune or exempt’: Florida sheriff arrests own daughter for meth trafficking
Investigators said they removed a "significant amount of electronics" from the home, where they discovered child pornography — including some they believe Thompson produced.
"The detectives continued to look for more evidence. We found it. It's disturbing. It's every parent's worst nightmare," Wells said. "It's despicable, it's disturbing for any of us that are parents as well, because we know that they were lured into a situation where they thought they were safe and he took advantage of them."
Deputies arrested Thompson at work and charged him with capital sexual battery, production and possession of child pornography, and exposing minors to harmful images. They said they expect additional charges to be filed.
Detectives said they believe there are more victims out there and are encouraging anyone with information about similar incidents involving Christopher Thompson to come forward.
"I know this is a very traumatic situation for a young child. We get it. We’ve had to work a lot of these cases, but we need to know who he victimized so he never does it again," Wells said. "The information that we’ve been told up to this point is he’s pretty much friendly. He’s in the neighborhood. People know him. He knows them. We really don’t know how many more victims are out there that we will discover during this investigation. We feel that there are many more that we need to talk to."
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Manatee County Sheriff's Office at 941-747-3011.