Texas man arrested after traveling to Orlando to have sex with 9-year-old girl
Accused child predator, 64-year-old Mark Andrew Nichols of Austin, Texas, was arrested in Orlando, Florida, this weekend “on charges he traveled to Orlando to have sex with who he thought was a 9-year-old girl,” according to a police report shared by WFTV in Florida. On September 13, Nichols responded to an on-line ad that he thought the parents of the nine-year-old posted in an effort to pimp out their daughter. Nichols thought the ad was posted by “experienced parents to learn new things about raising little ones,” when in fact undercover sex crime detectives posted the ad and kept in e-mail and cell phone contact with Nichols until his arrest in Orlando on October 7.
Orlando police said Mark Andrew Nichols, 64, exchanged emails and texts with a detective posing as a girl and her parents for several weeks prior to his Oct. 7 arrest. An arrest affidavit states Nichols described sex acts he planned to perform with the intended victim. ~ per ABC News affiliate KVUE
Thinking he was communicating with the girl and her parents, Nichols claimed to be fascinated with the idea of incest and said that he wanted to have sex with the nine-year-old and “discussed in graphic detail the sexual acts he wanted to do with the child.” Nichols texted that although he lived in Texas, he had family in Orlando; and he arranged a day and time to be in Orlando for his hookup with the child. When he arrived at the meeting place in Orlando, the police greeted him and took him into custody. On the morning of October 9, The Orlando Police Department posted a video of Nichols’ arrest and tweeted: “Mark Nichols traveled from TX to meet & have sex with a 9-yr-old girl. Instead, he was met by OPD. We’ll never stop going after predators.”
When police arrested him, investigators reported finding “Sour Patch Kids candy, a bag of Skittles and a bottle of lubricant.” Nichols was still in the Orange County Jail as of this morning. A hold was placed on his case to keep him incarcerated for the immediate future. Nichols is looking at multiple felony charges, including attempted sexual battery of a child under 12 years old, attempted lewd or lascivious, solicitation of a minor via computer, obscene communication, travel to meet a minor and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Written by: Ace News Today Staff
