Judge Grants Pretrial Detention Motion for Man Caught in Child Predator Sting
On August 7, Judge James Colaw granted prosecutors' motion to hold Philip Rosario Cabigting, 51, in pretrial detention. Cabigting was caught in the recent child predator sting operation conducted by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO).
Dubbed “Operation Firewall,” ACSO arrested 15 other men in the multi-day sting. Nearly all of them walked into Colaw’s courtroom for their detention hearing, and so far he hasn’t denied pretrial detention for a single one.
Cabigting was booked into jail on August 1, just after midnight, on charges of online child solicitation, using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony, harmfully/explicitly communicating with a minor and traveling to meet a child after online solicitation.
Detective Peter Michaels reported:
"[Cabigting] engaged in online conversations with an undercover (UC) law enforcement account on ‘Skip the Games…’
The juvenile persona of the account was a 14-year-old female. [Cabigting] was advised of the juvenile persona's age several times throughout the conversation... [Cabigting] acknowledged the age of the juvenile persona account and continued to engage in illicit conversation with the juvenile persona.
[Cabigting] sent sexually explicit messages after learning the age, a 14-year-old female of the UC account. During the communication between the UC and [Cabigting], he asked ‘Do you fuck?’ When asked if that's what they're going to do, [Cabigting] replied ‘Let's do it.’
As the conversation progressed, the UC stated that she is not on birth control, which [Cabigting] advised he will purchase condoms. [Cabigting] identified himself as ‘Phil’ during this interaction and the telephone number he utilized during this operation was linked to [him].
[Cabigting] claimed he was 43 years old during their communication; however, he is 51 years old. Once [Cabigting] arrived at the meeting location, he agreed to purchase the persona an orange Fanta soda, which was in his possession during the arrest.
[Cabigting] stated he wanted to have fun, and was willing to travel from his location and meet the persona at a predetermined, undisclosed location in Gainesville, Florida. After agreeing to the meet up location, [Cabigting] traveled to a location in Alachua County, Florida with the intention of meeting a juvenile for sexual activities.
[Cabigting] was taken into custody by law enforcement on July 31, 2026, at approximately [8:45 p.m.]
Post Miranda Interview
[Cabigting] verbally acknowledged he understood his Constitutional rights and subsequently agreed to converse with me in regard to this investigation. During the course of the interview, [Cabigting] was asked about what transpired during the evening of July 31, 2026.
[Cabigting] admitted to communicating with an individual who he believed to be a 14 year old female after reviewing her Skip the Games profile. Note: the Skip the Games website is an online site that advertises various sexual services. [Cabigting] also admitted to acknowledging the persona's age several times throughout their communication and suggested that he adopt her in an effort to help her life.
As their dialogue advanced, [Cabigting] admitted to asking the persona ‘Do you fuck,’ which resulted in him being asked ‘is that wat were gonna do when we meet?’ [Cabigting] admitted to saying ‘let's do it.’
At that time, [Cabigting] asked for the meet location, which was provided by the persona. [Cabigting] admitted to traveling to the designated meet up location in an effort to meet a 14-year-old girl..."
Cabigting's public defender has filed a notice of discovery to require prosecutors to disclose evidence they have against him. Formal charges have not yet been filed.
