Man arrested for sex 'chats' from office

SANFORD, Fla., April 29 (UPI) -- Authorities said they arrested a Florida man who used his office computer to expose himself to an undercover agent posing online as a 14-year-old girl.

Investigators said Robert Luis Hales, 39, was arrested Wednesday at the close of an eight-month investigation by the Sanford Police Department and Georgia's Gwinnett County Police Department, the Orlando Sentinel reported Friday.

Police said a Gwinnett County investigator posing as a 14-year-old girl chatted online with Hales in September 2010 and the suspect, using his office computer at Roses Southeast Papers in Sanford, made sexually explicit comments and used a Web cam to expose his genitals during the conversation.

Investigators said Hales again exposed his genitals during a December 2010 chat with the agent as well as performing a sex act, describing an act "related to child molestation" and showing a pornographic video.

The arrest report said Hales, who has been charged with lewd and lascivious behavior and cruelty toward a child, admitted to officers he used his office for online sex chats at least 15 hours per week.

"He does enter chat rooms, engage Web chat sessions and expose his [sexual organs and performs sex acts] at least five times a week for about 3 hours a day," the report said.