A 20-year-old man is accused of meeting an 11-year-old girl in a park and forcing her to perform a sex act while his friend filmed the whole thing.
Deputies with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said it happened Sunday afternoon — in broad daylight — in the park right next to the Mulberry City Library, which is closed on Sundays.
Eugene Beatty is accused of arranging to meet the girl at the park and immediately ordering her to perform a sex act on him while laying on a picnic table.
Beatty’s friend, who is under 18, agreed to film it on his cell phone and then post it on social media, according to his arrest affidavit.
“It’s very unsettling. It makes you question the neighborhood that you’re in and the people that you’re around and who my daughter is playing with,” said Kelly VanSlyke, who goes to the park twice a week for her kids to play.
She describes the park as a popular spot for young kids, but said she has never witnessed anything inappropriate.
“Sometimes some parents go in the library and leave their kids out there because they don’t want to bring their kids in,” she said.
Investigators won’t elaborate on how the victim and suspect met.
They only started looking into it this week after someone told a school resource officer about the videos online that were “widely viewed and disseminated,” according to the affidavit.
Beatty told deputies he thought the girl was older than 11.
