'Ima be in a suspicious van': Man met West Palm Beach teen online, then sexually exploited her, FBI says

WEST PALM BEACH — Texts from a South Florida man to the teenager he's accused of sexually exploiting paint a troubling portrait of the moment investigators say online predation veered into real-life abuse.

FBI agents arrested 25-year-old Malik Hosea Atkinson last week after he confessed to soliciting sex and explicit videos from girls he met on the internet. One, a West Palm Beach teen, told investigators Atkinson had sex with her in a white van before school and while her parents were at work during the summer.

"Wanna try making this a weekly thing?" Atkinson asked her before one such occasion, his texts memorialized in court records. "And food wise what do you want. Cus I am nice. I’m not just gonna rape you without like feeding you. That’s horrible lol."

The girl told investigators she met Atkinson on the social-media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2022. She said she initially felt uncomfortable when he suggested meeting face-to-face, but Atkinson continued to push the idea anyway.