A Florida sex offender was apprehended after allegedly trying to “purchase” an 8-year-old girl for $100,000.
Hellmuth Kolb, 85, is accused of approaching the girl’s mother at a Winn Dixie in Port Orange Thursday and making the indecent proposal, Port Orange Police confirmed.
Kolb was on probation and was banned from having contact with children after he tried to buy another child at a Walmart in 2018, CNN reported.
Lauren Benning told the station she thought Kolb was just a lonely older man when he came up to her and her daughter that day.
“He just came up, and he started making comments about how pretty she was and how good her dancing was and how he could never have children, and he wanted children,” Benning reportedly said.
But the interaction took a dark turn, the mother said.
“Approached me in the parking lot. Actually chased me down in the parking lot and said, ‘hey, I want to make a deal with you.’ I’d like to buy her for $100,000. I was in complete shock.”
“He needs to be locked up and not allowed to be around our children,” she reportedly said.
