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Police: Men Arrested In Craigslist Sex Sting Used Special Codes

Teacher Arrested In Sting Resigns

POSTED: Friday, November 2, 2007
UPDATED: 5:20 pm EDT November 2, 2007

A group of men arrested on charges they committed sex acts in a Central Florida mall men's room used special noise codes to initiate contact after finding the location on the popular Web site Craigslist, according to investigators.
MUG SHOTS: 9 Arrested In Sex Sting
"There are certain signs that we would not pick up on unless we knew what they were," Daytona Beach police Chief Mike Chitwood said. "The excessive pulling up and down your zipper, the sniffing and snorting, the tapping of the feet and the reaching underneath the stall -- I would break your jaw if I was in the stall and saw a hand coming underneath."

Police said a sting operation was launched Thursday night when a Volusia Mall Sears employee noticed the men's room was listed on Craigslist, suggesting it was a place men could meet up for sex.

Investigators said nine men were arrested in the sex sting.

The nine men arrested included SeaBreeze High School health teacher David Behringer and former city Commissioner Mike Shallow. Behringer resigned from his teaching position on Friday, Local 6 News reported.

"The undercover officer told me he actually tried to come under the stall, where he was actually looking up at the undercover officer while he was performing his act," Chitwood said. "The bothering thing is that you are coming up on the Christmas season, so you are out there shopping in the mall and your kid wants to run to the bathroom, you have a bunch of sick, degenerate, vile perverts in there doing their thing."

"You are shocked and surprised initially and then in the end you feel sad for the family," Daytona Beach manager Jim Chisholm said.

Police said other Central Florida locations that were listed as place men could meet up for sex will be monitored.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

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