An employee at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park was arrested this week after investigators say he requested nude photos from someone he thought was 14 years old.
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Tyler Thomas Exline, 30, of Palm Bay, was arrested Tuesday, the same day investigators approached him at the Universal Studios theme park, and faces charges of solicitation of a minor, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. He was no longer in custody at the Orange County Jail as of Friday afternoon, records show.
Exline, “team leader” for the attractions department at Epic, communicated Sept. 2 with an undercover deputy on an unnamed hookup app, according to his arrest affidavit. He sent that person a mostly nude photo, before moving their conversation over to popular social media platform Snapchat, the document said.
Once on Snapchat, the undercover deputy identified themselves as a minor, saying they were 14. In the exchange, Exline said he was trying to have sex, the affidavit said, and the deputy said they could do it in Exline’s truck. Exline replied his truck was tinted and asked for nude photos, the affidavit said.
When the deputy said he had already sent him clothed photos, Exline clarified he wanted nude photos.
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“I meant you naked. Want to know what I’d be pulling up to,” Exline said.
Exline and the deputy briefly communicated online the next day but there was no further contact between the two and no in-person meeting was ever arranged, according to the affidavit.
Investigators identified Exline as the man behind the Snapchat account and met with him Tuesday while he was on shift at the theme park.
Exline initially said his ex-boyfriend sometimes would sometimes use the Snapchat account and impersonate him, but he later admitted to being the person who used the account. He also said he remembered the messages he sent asking for nude photos when he thought the person was a young teenager, the affidavit said.
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