HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — A 34-year-old man from Hollywood was arrested Thursday on a warrant, months after he allegedly tried to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex, authorities said.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office arrested Darrien Marquez Fleno in Dania Beach and booked him into jail on charges of traveling to meet a minor and transmission of harmful materials to a minor.
According to his arrest report, Hollywood police officers were called to a Family Dollar store on South Federal Highway on Oct. 17, 2025, and were told by two people there that a man, later identified as Fleno, was inside the store, trying to meet a teenage girl for sex.
Officers made contact with Fleno and he agreed to provide a statement to detectives and allow them to search his cellphone, the report stated. His statement to detectives was redacted from the publicly released report.
According to the report, detectives discovered that Fleno had been communicating with who he thought was a teenage girl, but was actually a man who is a member of an organization called New York Predhunters.
Detectives said the man agreed to send the phone used to send and receive text messages with Fleno to South Florida for authorities to review.
According to the report, throughout the text messages, the topic of age was discussed multiple times and at one point, Fleno stated that he wouldn’t want to be seen with the teen in public because people might question what an older man was doing with a teenage girl.
Detectives said Fleno believed the “teen” lived in West Palm Beach and made arrangements to stay overnight with her at a hotel in Hollywood.
Police said Fleno sent the “teen” explicit photos of himself and made multiple sexual comments about what he wanted to do with her at the hotel.
As of Friday morning, Fleno was being held at the Paul Rein Detention Facility on a $100,000 bond.
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