Detectives in Flagler County have arrested a Palm Coast man after a monthlong investigation found he was having a sexual relationship with a minor. The case surfaced in mid-September when the victim’s parent discovered the relationship and contacted the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies and a mental health specialist responded to the family’s home on September 16 after the parent reported that a 20-year-old man known only as “Brandon” had been involved with her child for several months. At the parent’s request, deputies collected the victim’s cellphone and iPad so the Digital Forensics Unit could examine them.
A forensic review of the devices uncovered messages on text, Snapchat, and Instagram between the victim and the man, later identified as 20-year-old Brandon Raymond of Palm Coast. Detectives found sexually explicit conversations that referenced past sexual encounters.
On October 1, the Florida Department of Health’s Child Protection Team interviewed the victim, who confirmed the relationship had gone on for roughly three months and that Raymond knew they were a minor. The victim also said the two had sex multiple times, including inside Raymond’s vehicle.
Detectives obtained warrants on October 8 to search Raymond’s vehicle, collect his DNA, and seize his phone. Two days later, they found him in a grocery store parking lot in Flagler Beach. During that encounter, Raymond acknowledged details detectives had already uncovered, including that he knew the victim’s age and that they had sex at least twice. Detectives then seized his vehicle and phone and collected his DNA.
Crime Scene Investigations conducted a forensic search of the vehicle and found biological evidence on the backseat, along with clothes stored in the trunk. The evidence was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for testing.
After completing the investigation, detectives secured a warrant for Raymond’s arrest on November 7 for two counts of lewd or lascivious battery of a minor. That night, the Problem Area Crime Enforcement Unit arrested him at his home. He was booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and later released on a fifty-thousand-dollar bond.
Sheriff Rick Staly said Raymond knowingly took advantage of a child. He also credited the victim’s parent for taking quick action and praised the deputies and forensic teams who worked the case.
This arrest marks Raymond’s third in two weeks. On November 1, he was arrested on a Volusia County warrant tied to a shooting investigation in Ormond Beach. Those charges include aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle. He was released on a fifty-five-thousand-dollar bond.
Then on Tuesday, deputies arrested him again on another Volusia County warrant, this time for witness tampering. He was taken back to the Perry Hall facility, where his bond was later revoked before he was turned over to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.
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