Palm Coast Fugitive Wanted on Child Molestation Charge Found Within 1 Hour of Video Posting

Warren Putt Jr., 39, had a last-known residence at of 2 Kings Colony Court in Palm Coast. On Wednesday, a warrant was signed for his arrest on a molestation charge of a child dating back to when the girl was 5 to 7 at the time of the alleged assaults.

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly’s weekly “Fugitive Friday Bingo” video posted on Facebook this morning, featuring Putt as a wanted man. An hour later, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office had apprehended Putt thanks to a tip that came into the Sheriff’s Office.

The alleged victim is now 14. She was interviewed by the Child Protection Team in February 2017 at the beginning of what would be a year-long investigation. The girl explained to her interviewer that Putt was her mother’s boyfriend about seven years ago, when she was around kindergarten age. “The victim does not recall when this all started but remembers being paid a dollar not to say anything about it,” Putt’s arrest report states.

The girl was living with her mother and Putt (who is no longer her mother’s boyfriend). Putt “would make the victim touch him, watch pornography, and would occasionally get into the shower with her,” the arrest report states. The victim told the interviewer of a specific instance when Putt raped her orally, and her being disgusted with the end result.

Putt “would play a DVD on the living room television and make the victim watch it,” the report states. “The victim remembers watching the pornographic DVD and asking Warren why all the women were unclothed and the men were not. Warren responded to her by commenting on how nice the women were. The pornographic DVD was of women giving oral sex to men. Warren didn’t work at the time and this would occur when the victim’s mother was at work.”

Flagler Sheriff’s investigators conducted a controlled call between Putt and a person close to the alleged victim. (The controlled call entails detectives listening in.) Putt, according to the report, “apologized” while denying the allegations.

He was asked what he was apologizing for. “Whatever she said I did,” he responded. “I don’t recall doing anything to her but I want to help her through this so I will apologize for it if I have to.”

Putt told the caller that he was “on a lot of drugs and did a lot of stupid things” at the time of the alleged incidents. He blamed the drugs for his actions. The call ended. He then immediately called the person back and said he remembered a time when the alleged victim was in the shower. He thought she would be in there for a while. So he put on a pornographic video to masturbate. The girl walked out of the bathroom, he said, just as he was shutting off the DVD but was still naked. Putt told the caller he does not recall making the child do anything to him.

He “reiterated the fact that he doesn’t want the cops involved,” the arrest report states. The caller expressed concern for the victim and the need for help in the situation, to which Putt said he, too,l wanted to help, and that “the most he can do now is say I’m sorry.”

Sheriff’s detectives contacted Putt on July 31 last year. Putt said he was driving a truck out of state and would not be able to meet with detectives. He spoke with detectives the following day, denying all allegations, but he “provided inconsistent statements from what he stated during the controlled phone call,” the arrest report found. He said the caller (whose identity is protected in the arrest report) never contacted him about the situation. And the incident he remembers may have taken place involved the girl waking up from sleep and possibly walking in on him as he was watching porn, though he said he doesn’t think that actually happened.

Lewd and lascivious molestation of a child younger than 12 is a life felony punishable by a minimum of 25 years in prison.

“This was great police work,” Staly said in a release issued this afternoon. Thanks to our partners at the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance.” Putt remains in Alachua County, awaiting extradition.

He was last booked at the Flagler jail in 2014 on a probation violation. In 2009, he was found guilty of a violation of an injunction for protection from domestic violence, a misdemeanor that had initially been filed as an aggravated stalking felony charge.