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Jeffrey Burrell, 68, is charged with soliciting a child for unlawful sexual conduct using a computer and unlawful use of a two-way communications device, the Nassau County Sheriff's Office said. Burrell retired from the Quincy Police Department in 2016 after 31 years on the force. He has since moved to Florida, the Patriot Ledger reported.
Burrell was one of 11 men arrested in the Sheriff's Office Operation Keystroke.
Burrell got involved after he answered an ad online, an arrest warrant said, and struck up a conversation with an undercover agent who told him they were a 14-year-old girl. Despite this, the former officer continued to message her for several days, the heavily redacted warrant continues.
During his conversation with the agent posting as a teen, Burrell said he was in Brunswick, Ga., and would pay $80 if they could meet up and have sex in his car, the warrant said. He also asked if she was too young to smoke marijuana, the sheriff said. Burrell reportedly showed up at their pre-arranged meeting place, but deputies did not immediately take him into custody.
“This is a picture of a dirty old man,” Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said of Burrell while holding a photo of him during a press conference about Operation Keystroke on Wednesday, Sept. 14.
Quincy Police Chief Paul Keenan called the arrest "both shocking and upsetting" to the Patriot Ledger.
Some of the other men caught in Operation Keystroke include a 31-year-old US Army Captain and West Point graduate and a 34-year-old former K9s For Warriors trainer.
Nassau County is on the east coast of Florida, below the Georgia border and north of Jacksonville.
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