A Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport TSA worker was arrested after he tried to meet an 11-year-old family friend to have sex with her, authorities said.
Gary Delynn Linder, 27, was arrested last Wednesday after authorities say he showed up at a Plantation park expecting to have sex with the pre-teen, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
Linder is facing federal charges after allegedly sending the girl inappropriate texts and pornography after he obtained her cellphone number in January, prosecutors said.
"Have you hit puberty yet?” read one text he sent to the girl, according to authorities. The girl's parents saw the texts and turned the phone over to investigators who posed as the girl and started to communicate with Linder.
Linder sent more than 1,000 texts over about two months before arranging to meet who he thought was the girl at a Plantation park to have sex in his car, authorities said. He was arrested when he showed up.
Officials with the TSA told the Sun-Sentinel that the agency has begun the process of firing Linder, who has been a TSA officer since 2016.
Linder, who is charged with using a cellphone to entice a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce child pornography and transferring obscene materials to a minor, remained behind bars in Broward County Wednesday, jail records showed. Attorney information wasn't available.
