Alliance man, 25, charged with soliciting adolescent

Staff report

SEBRING

Bond was set at $75,000 Thursday for a 25-year-old Alliance man charged with one count of importuning, after he allegedly tried to meet an 11-year-old girl for sex.

On Dec. 22, the girl’s father notified police of Dustin J. Rowley’s attempts to contact his daughter via Facebook, said Detective Ray Harris of the Sebring Police Department.

Shortly afterward, police obtained the father’s permission to use the girl’s Facebook and make contact with Rowley. Harris noted that Rowley “solicited to have sex with ... the agent a couple of times” during these interactions.

Police then set up a date and time to meet at Rowley’s 1005 Lake Park Boulevard mobile home for sex, and sent a decoy to the residence. Rowley was arrested and charged with importuning, a second-degree felony.

He will appear in Sebring Municipal Court next Thursday for a preliminary hearing.