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Tampa man, 31, accused of having sex with 13-year-old girl

 
Published Sept. 22, 2012

TAMPA — A man accused of having sex with a 13-year-old girl he met on a dating website was extradited to Hillsborough County this week.

The girl told a guidance counselor at Auburndale High in February that she might be pregnant. When the counselor asked about her boyfriend, the teen said he didn't go to school.

Her boyfriend was 31 years old, authorities said.

The school contacted Auburndale police. Detectives there interviewed the girl and handed the investigation over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The girl identified her boyfriend as Daniel Reese of Tampa. Records show Reese lived alone in an apartment at 13761 Orange Sunset Drive and worked as a salesperson at a Verizon Wireless store.

In November 2011, they met on a dating website called Plenty Of Fish, said FDLE special agent Al Danna. They met in the parking lot of Auburndale High, where they had sex inside Reese's pickup truck, Danna said.

Reese and the girl met several more times the following months, both in Auburndale and in Reese's Tampa apartment.

Investigators obtained a search warrant and confiscated Reese's computer and cellphone, where they found 19 child pornography videos that showed girls between the ages of 10 and 12, Danna said.

But by the time a warrant was issued, Reese had quit his job and left the country. On Sept. 6, Reese, traveling from Cambodia, arrived in Atlanta, where he was arrested.

Reese faces 23 charges, including possession of child pornography, lewd or lascivious battery and traveling to meet a minor. More charges are pending, Danna said.

Reese was booked into the Hillsborough County jail Wednesday, where he remained Friday without bail.