West Boca Raton Softball Coach Arrested For Solicitation Of A Child
Boca Raton’s Colton Cornett Arrested for Obscene Communications, Luring Child
BOCA RATON, FL – Boca Post (BocaPost.com) — Colton Cornett of Boca Raton has been arrested and charged with several felonies including using a computer to seduce a child and traveling to meet after use of a computer to lure a child, according to jail records released to Boca Post by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Colton Cornett, 28, of the 5000 block of Pacific Boulevard in the Reflections of Boca Del Mar community in Boca Raton, has been arrested by the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office. Boca Post has been notified that the charges are related to obscene communications with an alleged minor child.
According to the probable cause affidavit submitted by the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, an investigation began in January of 2022 when the parents of a 13-year-old girl reported to PBSO that the daughter’s coach was sending her “creepy” messages late at night.
The girl’s father told investigators that his 13-year-old daughter had a “crush” on the 28-year-old. One night in July of 2021, the father took his daughter and several others bowling where he told Colton that his daughter had a crush on him. Colton then invited the daughter and 3 other girls to join “his softball team”.
The girl later told investigators that she wound up in a group chat with the other girls and the new coach. Shortly after that, she was in a private chat with the 28-year-old. She said Colton invited her to go skinny dipping and told her he wanted to get a jet ski to ride naked on and she would ride behind him. The girl said the texts made her feel uncomfortable so she deleted them.
The girl told investigators, that on Thanksgiving, Colton began texting her late at night and her mother took her phone to read the messages which stated “wash me”. The girl stated the last time she spoke with Colton was January 4, 2022. She said she only even communicated with him via text and their “relationship” never became physical.
Investigators then pretended to be the 13-year-old girl and texted the 28-year-old coach. The two agreed to end communications, agreeing that it was not a good idea to continue texting or to meet. Communications stopped for months. Then, in August of 2022, the parents of the 13-year-old girl approached detectives with new text messages.
A PBSO detective then acted as the 13-year-old girl and the two texted back and forth. After many texts including winky faces, eggplant emojis, talks of showers, and other suggestive content, the two agree to meet. PBSO TAC team was conducting surveillance on Cornett as he left his place of employment in Boca Raton.
The conversation went on for 26 minutes while Cornett was driving in his vehicle. Members of the PBSO TAC team lost sight of Cornett at Pacific Blvd and Camino Del Mar, heading in the general direction of the home. At 1856 hours, the undercover agent asked Cornett if ‘she’ should be getting ready to which he responded, “I wish, but I have to be home for dinner (sad face emoji). Because I’d be all over you *tongue emoji*”.
Cornett then sent two images to the undercover agent. The first image was the crotch area of a person wearing black pants or shorts sitting in what appears to be a vehicle. Cornett stated, “Those are my pants *smirk emoji*”. Cornett then sent the undercover agent a picture of the crotch area of a sitting male with Jurassic park boxers and black pants pulled down. He stated, “the next one I’ll be naked”.
Cornett did not send the undercover another third picture. Members of PBSO TAC were unable to locate Cornett again. The operation was ended. The undercover told Cornett that ‘her’ parents were arriving home early to discourage him from attempting to go to the house at a later time. The last message Cornett sent was at 1814 hours which stated “That would have been badddd. So definitly next time lol”.
Colton Cornett was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail at 9:30 on Friday night. Colton Cornett was present for his first appearance where a judge ordered that he have no contact with the victim, no unsupervised contact with minor children, and no internet use. Cornett was later released after posting a $15,000 bond.
A note from the editor
It is unknown if Cornett is still coaching softball; however, pictures of him posing with a girl’s softball team were posted to his social media profile as recently as July of 2021.
Boca Post previously shared a photo found on Facebook with Cornett clearly posing as a coach for a local softball team. Even though we blurred the faces of all the other subjects found in the image, we have since removed the photo in an effort to further protect the privacy of anyone affiliated with the team.
Boca Post does not know, nor do we want to know, who the victim is in this case as her identity is protected by law. We also want our readers to know that we have no reason to believe that the victim of the crime Cornett is accused of even exists in such images. We originally shared the photo to show that Cornett was, at some point, the coach of a girl’s softball team in West Boca Raton.
