Malone fire chief steps down after sex sting arrest

The town of Malone has appointed a new volunteer fire chief, having relieved former chief Dustin S. Calloway from that duty following his arrest in a sting operation targeting online solicitation of children for sex. The new fire chief, Jessica Cook, said Calloway voluntarily stepped down from the position.

Calloway, 25, was one of 38 men arrested so far in the operation carried out this month by the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Calloway was charged with using a computer to solicit a parent for consent for sex with a minor and with traveling to have sex with a minor.

As of Tuesday morning, Calloway was still listed as chief on the town of Malone’s web site, but Mayor Gene Wright said he is no longer serving in that role.

Town officials allowed the fire department to make the call on whether to retain Calloway as chief after his arrest several days ago, Wright said. Undercover investigators from several law enforcement agencies were involved in the sting, with the Tallahassee Police Department serving a lead role. Most of the men were arrested in the initial week of the operation, Oct. 10-16, but a few others have since been charged.

Local law enforcement learned of Calloway’s arrest after he was reported as a missing person in the week of Oct. 10. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office was called in to search for Calloway after he failed to show up for work at a local car dealership. The search was called off after they learned he had been arrested and jailed. Calloway posted a $12,500 bond on Oct. 12, the day of his arrest, and was released to await further court action in his case.

According to authorities involved in the operation, the arrested men were allegedly involved in internet conversations with undercover officers who were posing as underage girls or as parents of underage girls who were interested in offering their children up for sexual encounters. Eventually, the men were steered to location in Tallahassee in connection with the planned encounters. They were arrested there and charged with various crimes related to their particular alleged activities.

In the probable cause related to Calloway’s case, authorities say he responded to a posting made by an undercover investigator who posed as the mother of a 13-year-old girl. In the posting, the investigator said he was a mother looking for ‘the right teacher for my daughter’s first time.”

Calloway allegedly wrote that he had “been with younger girls,” adding that he had dated a 14-year-old in the past. He indicated that he would perform oral sex on the girl and then involve his genitals in acts with her, according to the report. Authorities say he eventually asked for an address and, once he acquired it, sent an e-mail that he was on his way there.

Officers were waiting to take him into custody when he arrived. According to the affidavit, Calloway admitted that he was the only one who had access to the e-mail account he was using and that he had sent the e-mails to the undercover officer. He also admitted traveling from Malone to meet with what he had thought to be the mother and daughter, according to the affidavit.

Cook, the newly appointed chief, has been a member of the Malone Volunteer Fire Department for more than a year, joining her husband on the crew. Cook said she was voted into the position because the assistant fire chief, Robby Worthington, could not step into the chief’s role. Worthington’s father, Jeff, is being treated at a burn unit because of injuries he received in an accident a few weeks ago, and his son needs to be available for him whenever needed.

Cook expects the department to continue operating as well as it has in the past. She said Calloway ran it well, but stepped down after the incidents that led to his arrest, saying he did not want the reputation of the department to suffer by association with those events.

The department will go forward, she said, adding that the fire crew is well-prepared to continue fire protection in the community. Also, she said, the team members are focusing on an upcoming fundraiser they hope will assist the assistant chief’s family as they struggle to cover their expenses related to Jeff Worthington’s injuries.

The department will be selling Boston butt roasts at the Malone Pecan Festival on Nov. 19, with all proceeds going to the Worthington family.