Palmetto man now faces sex abuse charges involving 8 children after 1 lured from party
A Palmetto-area man, already charged with luring a 5-year-old girl from a birthday party last month and raping her, is now facing charges involving seven more victims — between the ages of 6 and 13.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office first arrested Christopher Thompson on April 25 after the initial victim’s parents reported the sexual battery.
Thompson, 44, had lured the girl away from her friend’s birthday party in the Old Mill Preserve subdivision, near Buffalo Creek Park, to his house across the street in the 7000 block of Water Mill Street, Palmetto. They had both been attending the party.
Thompson forced the girl to watch home-made child porn showing him with other children. After sexually assaulting her, Thompson told her not say anything and they both went back to the party.
When detectives searched Thompson’s home, they found his child pornography collection including his home-made child porn and self-made video voyeurism on his electronic devices.
“Detectives also learned that Thompson’s crimes went undetected by multiple members of the community and his family,” the sheriff’s office said in an update Tuesday morning. “Information and other evidence received from his immediate family proved valuable in identifying the additional victims.”
At the time of his arrest, Thompson was a Manatee County employee working on a grounds crew in the Utilities Department. He has remained at the Manatee County jail where he is being held without bond since his initial arrest.
Thompson refused to appear at his first hearing on Saturday on his newest local charges. Those charges include one count of lewd and lascivious molestation against a child between ages of 12 and 16, one count of lewd and lascivious molestation on a child less than 12 years old, and two counts of video voyeurism on a child less than 16 years old.
A judge ordered Thompson not to have any contact with the victims or their parents. Thompson is also forbidden from using the internet and from having any contact with anyone under the age of 18 years old — except his own child and only in a courtroom setting.
To date, Thompson is facing charges in four separate cases in Manatee County, one case in Marion County and another in Madison, Alabama. Those cases involve sexual abuse, capital sexual battery and production of child pornography.
Thompson has not yet to be charged in connection to two of the currently eight known victims, but another case of video voyeurism involving an 11-year-old has been sent to the State Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution.
Detectives are also still going his electronic devices and anticipate filing multiple child pornography charges against Thompson.
Anyone with any information about similar incidents or this case can call the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office at 941-747-3011.
