Lake County Sheriff's Office

Justin Slavinski was arrested in Florida after allegedly soliciting a law-enforcement officer posing as a 14-year-old South Carolina girl.

Authorities in Florida say a man arrested in an undercover child porn sting may have tried to lure as many as 40 girls he met online to have sex with him.

A search of Justin Slavinski’s computer turned up numerous photographs depicting child porn, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

At a press conference Tuesday in Orlando, Florida investigators appealed for possible victims to come forward.

“Cases of this nature are always disturbing, but I find this one particularly heinous,” said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey.  “I urge anyone with information about this investigation to contact FDLE Orlando Regional Operations Center.” 

Slavinski, 32, of Apopka, Fla., was arrested on Thursday on warrants out of South Carolina alleging soliciting a minor via the Internet to engage in sexual activity, transmission of materials harmful to a minor, and lewd and lascivious behavior. He was being held in the Lake County Jail in Tavares, Fla., pending extradition to South Carolina.

Slavinski works as a computer programmer at a hospice in Tavares, authorities said.

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He came under investigation in South Carolina during an undercover probe of child porn on the Internet, said Carrie Cuthbertson, a spokeswoman for the Georgetown County (S.C.) Sheriff’s Office.  A warrant was issued for him after he solicited a law-enforcement officer posing as a 14-year-old girl on a social-networking site in March, Cuthbertson said.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement

Undated photo of Justin Slavin that Florida law-enforcement officials say he sent of himself over the Internet.

Slavinski is believed to have sent more than 27,000 electronic messages, including obscene pictures, to minors since 2005, Florida investigators said.

“Agents have developed information that Slavinski has been in contact with as many as 40 young females throughout Florida over the Internet. FDLE is conducting an investigation to see if any of these girls are the victims of a crime.  Additional charges are anticipated,” authorities said in a press release.

Florida officials have so far found three children — two 14-year-olds and a 17-year-old girl — in Central Florida who have received pornographic images or other obscene material from Slavinski, FDLE spokeswoman Susie Murphy said, The Orlando Sentinel reported. 

Florida Department of Law Enforcement

Another undated photo that Florida law-enforcement officials say Justin Slavinski sent of himself over the Internet.

Investigators also found videos of Slavinski performing a sex act on himself and lewd photos, as well as child porn, on his seized computers and external hard drives, Murphy said, according to the Sentinel.

It’s not known if Slavinski actually met any of the minors he allegedly communicated with online.

“There’s no timeline on Florida charges but we do anticipate charges forthcoming,” FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger told NBC News.

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