Palm Harbor Man Charged in Molestation Case

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office has announced the arrest of a Palm Harbor man in connection with a molestation case.

According to the sheriff’s office, the incident occurred in April when the man and the child’s mother were dating. The victim’s mother, the agency wrote in an email to media, met the man via an online dating service and only dated him for a brief period.

The 7-year-old girl told her mother about the alleged fondling in May and a criminal investigation was launched.

Craig Stout, 24, was arrested at his Palm Harbor home and booked into the Pinellas County Jail. He faces lewd and lascivious molestation and use of a computer to entice/solicit a parent for sex acts with a child charges, Manatee County’s email stated.

Stout was being held Friday in lieu of $125,000 bond, jail records indicate.

Booking photo courtesy of the Pinellas County Jail