panhandleparade.com: Police Officer Sentenced as Sex Offender.Walton County, FL. - A former Alabama and Florida law enforcement officer initially arrested several years ago during a “Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator” sting has been sentenced. Walton County Circuit Judge Kelvin Wells sentenced Todd Monroe Spikes to ten-year’ sex offender probation.
Last month, the 44-year-old pled “no contest” to the charges of lewd and lascivious exhibition with the victim less than 16, and using the computer to seduce and solicit a child. Spikes was one of 21 men who police said had sexually explicit online chats with decoys posing as children. He had several online chats with a police decoy who was posing as a 13-year-old girl. He drove five hours to meet with her at a home in Flagler Beach, just outside of Daytona Beach, Florida. Cameras followed Spikes as he drove around the decoy’s house. He was stopped several blocks away where authorities found several loaded weapons in his SUV. His vehicle also contained rope and a boat anchor.
The charges were eventually transferred to Walton County, because the investigation revealed that he used the computer in Walton County to solicit the acts. At the time of his arrest, Spikes was working as an officer for the Florala Police Department. Prior to that, he had spent time with the Samson, Alabama Police Department, the Geneva, Alabama Police Department, the DeFuniak Springs Police Department, and the Walton County Sheriff’s Office.
Following his sentencing, Spikes came to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office to register as a sex offender.
If this man was not a police officer, his sentence would be much greater than a ten-year probation period.
