JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Marshall Pendergrass has no criminal record in Jacksonville.
But the long-haul trucker, who was arrested Sunday in Arizona with two kids in his truck he allegedly had abducted in Texas, has been a concern among neighbors back home, especially those who have children.
“When we heard about that arrest, that’s the best thing that ever happened to us,” Barbara Rich told First Coast News on Tuesday.
Rich said her granddaughter, now a teen - along with other girls, has been a target of advances from the 47-year-old Pendergrass for years.
“He told them that he would pay them $20 apiece if he could see their privates,” Rich said, recalling an incident when her granddaughter was six or seven years old.
The children Pendergrass allegedly abducted Friday from their Belton, Texas home reportedly lived two doors down from Pendergrass before moving out of state about seven years ago, neighbors said.
Rich said Pendergrass has targeted several children, including boys, baiting them with gifts such as money and cell phones.
“He was giving her beer, he was giving her liquor,” Rich said, hinting that it was difficult disciplining her granddaughter to resist the allure.
“We’d cut her phones off, he’d give her a phone,” she said.
According to several people, some of those gifts came from Tanner’s convenience store a short distance away.
“He was buying the vapes for my granddaughter,” Rich continued. “[Children would] pick out what they wanted, then they’d go outside and he’d buy it.”
Tanner’s clerk Emma Ross said she has stopped allowing Pendergrass to purchase alcohol or tobacco-related products after hearing from several parents.
“At least four that I know of,” Ross said, “and I know their parents personally.”
Adults say they’ve called police on at least a few occasions.
“The police down here did not do anything,” Rich said, adding that she doesn’t know why Pendergrass was never arrested.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office didn’t comment about calls regarding Pendergrass, but retired detective Kim Varner said it can be a challenge achieving probable cause to arrest in some instances.
“If the victim is a child, which in this case is a child,” Varner began, “you have to talk to that child. You have to get that child to tell you exactly what went on.”
Something he said isn’t always easy to do but can be much stronger than secondhand accounts, even from parents. Varner said detailed recollections also help.
“Certain identifying characteristics of that person’s body … if he can describe the inside of that person’s house,” Varner added, giving such as examples as items in a bedroom or color/pattern of sheets.
Varner recommended that people become acquainted with beat officers in their neighborhoods and communicate concerns. He also urged that any parent suspicious of another adult should do everything possible to keep their child away, including telling the suspicious person that the child is not allowed to be with him/her alone.
Although a background check doesn’t always reveal items of concern, such as in Pendergrass’ case, you can look up registered sex offenders living in your area by visiting the Florida Department of Law Enforcement website.
As Pendergrass awaits federal charges, his wife Michelle offered a written statement, reading in part, “He has no criminal record at all … he is a family man … he cares about kids”.
But some people in his neighborhood see it differently.
“If it’s more than one or two kids saying almost the exact thing but a little different here and there, something happened,” said neighbor Eddie Wiseman.
“I’m not surprised. It should have been stopped a long time ago,” Ross said.
As for Rich, she hopes she’s seen the last of Marshall Pendergrass.
“I hope to God he never sees daylight,” she said.