‘UNDERCOVER OPERATION’ | 

Wexford man (62) facing child sex offence charges in Florida

He has been charged with one count of travelling to meet a minor for sex, one count of attempted lewd battery and one count of using a two-way communication device to commit a felony and is due to stand trial in Florida next month.

Wexford People

Yesterday at 10:00

A Wexford man is due to face a court hearing for child sex offences in the US, after he was arrested as part of an undercover operation by Florida police during the course of which he is accused of travelling to meet what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl for sex following online communication.

Frank Butler (62) of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was arrested by Polk County Police Officers in June of last year following a targeted operation, ‘Operation Child Protector II’.

Originally from Coolcotts Lane in Wexford town, Butler has been living in Florida for the best part of two decades.

He has been charged with one count of travelling to meet a minor for sex, one count of attempted lewd battery and one count of using a two-way communication device to commit a felony and is due to stand trial in Florida next month.

Butler was one of several arrests made during the course of the operation, described by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office as “an undercover operation” which saw “undercover detectives online attempting to locate and identify offenders that use the internet to sexually exploit children”.

The prosecution allege that the communication between Butler and the undercover officer, posing as a 13-year-old girl, took place on a social media site and he was arrested at a location where a meeting had been arranged at 11.43pm on June of last year.

It was reported that after his arrest, Butler said he planned to wait at the house to tell the child’s mother what the child was doing.

A spokesperson for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Butler is due to face a court hearing in relation to these charges on August 9.

Coming from a well-respected Wexford family, Frank Butler left Wexford a number of years ago for the US, but was a regular visitor home to see family. His father Frank (FX) passed away back in 2008, while his mother Noreen died in September of last year at the age of 93.

Both were extremely highly thought of in their local community, deeply engrained in the parish of Clonard and involved in numerous philanthropic endeavours and community organisations.

A former student of St Peter’s College, Frank Butler was described on his arrest as an “administrator” with the Butler Search Group (BSG), a Florida-based company founded by his wife Rasheeda. The company specialises in placing young European students in internships at “prestigious private clubs, fine hotels and resorts along the east coast of the US”

Many of the students benefiting from placements are on J-1 cultural exchange visas to the US.

Although listed as a partner in the company on his LinkedIn account, the BSG website makes no mention of Frank Butler either in terms of company personnel or company history.

However, there are references to him in client testimonials still listed on the website, as well as a number of images of him photographed with hospitality interns.

Butler was due to attend a pre-trial conference at the Circuit Criminal Court at Bartow Courthouse, Polk County, Florida, yesterday with a hearing date set for August 9.