Parents of accused man embarrassed, apologize to victim
Parents of a 28-year-old Cape Coral man accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old female spoke about their son’s arrest Thursday.
Michael Campos remained in the Lee County Jail Thursday on charges of lewd and lascivious battery of a minor and computer pornography solicitation of a child, booking records indicate. His bond has been set at $300,000.
Campos is accused of having a sexual relationship with a friend of his younger brother over several months, as well as soliciting for nude pictures from the alleged victim via text messages.
“Me and my wife and my entire family, we truly, truly feel sorry for the young lady that is involved in this and her family,” said Campos’ stepfather, Jay. “I’m speechless about it. We’re embarrassed more than anything, and ashamed for him.”
Campos was homeless and had been sleeping on a couch at his parents’ house, though his family was unaware of his possible involvement with the teen, Jay said.
“If my stepson did this, I am truly sorry, but he is an adult,” he said. “His mother, myself and my children that are at home, we all do our very, very best to be upstanding community people. We’re just a hard-working family that got into a situation that we let our son, who is homeless, sleep on the couch for a few weeks and this is the thanks we get.”
The Cape Coral Police Department arrested Campos Tuesday after months of investigation, stemming from allegations reportedly made by the victim to a youth service counselor in November.
The victim told the counselor she and Campos had been engaged in a sexual relationship since shortly after her 14th birthday in October, police reported.
Officers acquired hundreds of pages of text messages from Campos’ phone provider, some of the messages were sexual in nature and several requested nude photographs from the victim, reports state.
Campos reportedly denied the allegations of wrongdoing.