CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – A 20-year-old Jacksonville man is accused of pretending to be a teenage boy on a social media app to rape a 13-year-old in Clay County, according to an incident report.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation into Ricardo Serin in May after the Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital contacted the sheriff’s office to report a 13-year-old girl had been raped.
According to the report, investigators said the girl and Servin had been communicating on the WIZZ chat app. Investigators said Servin’s profile was set up to portray him as a 14-year-old boy.
The alleged assault happened at a park on Oakleaf Village Parkway and the girl identified Servin as the suspect.
Amanda Videll, an FBI spokesperson for the Jacksonville office, said it’s always possible for a person with bad intentions to pretend to be someone they are not on social media.
“It is illegal to do that to a child in a way that you are trying to victimize that child in some way. Whether you are extorting them for money or whether you are sexually exploiting them in some way,” Videll said.
The WIZZ app may say, “No bots. No creeps. Real people WIZZ your age,” but the FBI reminds parents that creepy people can be lurking on any social media app.
“There is no app that exists where there is not a risk of someone using it to exploit anyone, specifically children,” Videll, said. “We don’t think kids go out looking for trouble, but there are predators looking for kids. So, even if you believe your child knows better, make sure they understand people can misrepresent themselves to them when they meet them online.”
It’s unclear how long his profile portrayed him to be a teenager, and it’s also unclear if there are other minors with similar allegations against him.
As of right now, there are more than 120 social media apps in existence. Videll said parents should educate themselves on the apps that most children are flocking to.
“Understand how they work. How people have access to their children and utilize the privacy settings that are built into those apps as well. Don’t forget, there are a lot of settings that you can control to keep your information from getting out there to people and strangers you engage with online,” she said.
News4Jax spoke with Ricardo Servin’s older brother who said that Ricardo is generally not a bad person but sometimes makes bad decisions.
Servin remains in jail on a $100,000 bond.