FRUIT COVE, Fla. -- On Tuesday, detectives with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office and agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a 25-year-old British man after they learned he was staying with a 15-year-old and his family in Fruit Cove.

Police arrested Michael Hunter of Birmingham, United Kingdom on a charge of traveling to meet a minor with the purpose of engaging in an illegal act. Hunter was booked into the St. Johns County Jail.  As of this writing, he is still being held in the jail. His bond has been set at $100,000.

Deputies with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office began investigating Hunter after the father of a 15-year-old St. Johns County male juvenile became suspicious of Hunter. Hunter had been staying with the boy and his mother in Fruit Cove, according to a news release from St. Johns County Sheriff's Office Media Relations Officer Kevin Kelshaw.

When police questioned the 15-year-old, he told them Hunter was "just a friend." As they were questioning the teen, Hunter came out of the home carrying a suitcase and a box.

Hunter told police he was 17 and that his name was "Gary Johnson," Kelshaw said. Hunter then provided conflicting stories, originally telling them he had been kicked out of his home and that he met the victim at school.

Detectives were able to determine that Hunter was not 17, but was in fact 25 years old and that he had given them a fake name.  Police were also able to figure out Hunter had met the 15-year-old in an Internet chat room and that this was the second time Hunter had traveled from England to meet the victim.

Special Victims' Unit detectives with the SJSO then called in the FBI for assistance in questioning Hunter.  After both agencies were through interviewing Hunter, he was arrested and taken to the St. Johns County Jail.

First Coast News