Florida Mother Used 'Instinct' To Bust Sex Offender At Elementary School

A Florida woman says that her "mom instincts" kicked in when she saw a man hiding behind a dumpster at Bauder Elementary School in Seminole. The woman, who did not wish to be identified, thought the man matched the description of a person who had been seen riding his bike around the school when the children are dismissed.

For the past few months in a private Facebook group, parents have been discussing their concerns about "somebody with longer hair, riding a bike" past the school. One of the mothers in the group searched Florida's list of registered sex offenders and identified the man who she believed was responsible for riding around the school.

When the mother saw the man hiding behind the dumpster, she felt something was off about him and called the police.

"There's no replacement for a mom's instinct. And if it feels wrong, usually it probably is,” she told Fox13.

A few days later, she was asked by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office to come down to the station to identify the suspect.

"They met with me a couple of days later to have me do a photo line-up,” she said. “I knew right away out of the pictures, which one it was."

67-year-old Herbert John Saxton was arrested on a charge of trespassing on school grounds. Saxton was released from prison in 2001 after serving four years of a 10-year prison sentence on charges of sexual battery and was charged with failing to comply with sex offender registration in 2004.

Authorities fit Saxton with an ankle monitor and he was released from jail after posting a $1,000 bond.

Photo: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office