A Palm Coast man is in jail following a 17-month investigation by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, after detectives say he sexually abused two young girls multiple times.
The case traces back to February 2025. That month, the Florida Department of Children and Families received a report accusing the suspect, Joseph Spector, 38, of Palm Coast, of inappropriate contact with a minor. A DCF investigator then reached out to a sheriff’s office school resource deputy so the child could be interviewed at her school.
In that initial interview, the girl said Spector had inappropriately touched her during an incident in 2022. Later, during an interview with the First Coast Child Protection Team, she provided additional details. Investigators say she reported that Spector showed her pornography, gave her alcohol, and repeatedly held what he referred to as “cuddling sessions” several times a week, sessions in which she said he abused her. She also told investigators her sister had been abused in the same manner.
The second child, interviewed separately, confirmed the same type of “cuddling sessions” took place. She also recounted a separate incident involving Spector.
In April 2025, the sheriff’s office Major Case Unit conducted a covert operation. According to the sheriff’s office, Spector said that even if he couldn’t remember everything that happened, he was sorry.
Detectives spoke with Spector again in April 2026. He denied the allegations. When investigators referenced comments he made during the covert operation, he said he didn’t remember saying them. The agency’s release quotes him as telling detectives, “I don’t remember, and if it happened, I was drunk.”
On July 25, detectives set up a meeting with Spector at a restaurant in Bunnell. Once he arrived, Major Case Unit detectives and Community Policing Division deputies took him into custody without incident.
Spector was arrested on two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation. He was booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and is being held on a $150,000 bond.
“I commend those two brave victims, as this investigation never would have happened without their courage to speak up and come forward with what this pervert did to them,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. He also credited what he called strong coordination among investigators, the school resource deputy who took the initial report, deputies involved in the arrest, and DCF throughout the case. “I hope he goes to prison for a long time,” Staly added.
The sheriff’s office is asking anyone in Flagler County who has been a victim of child sexual abuse, or knows a victim, to report it. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office can be reached at 386-313-4911. Reports can also be made through the DCF Abuse Hotline at 1-800-962-2873 or online at reportabuse.myflfamilies.com.
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