David J. Neal
·4 min read
Using social media, an Opa-locka man coerced Palm Beach and Broward 15-year-olds into letting him commit statutory rape, got one of the two girls to let him record it on video and sell the videos for him.
The above violations were chronicled in 26-year-old Malik Atkinson’s guilty plea to two counts of online solicitation of a minor to commit a sexual act, crimes for which Atkinson was sentenced to 30 years in Miami federal court Friday. After Atkinson’s release, which will be at least 25 years and six months in the future, he’ll be subject to a lifetime of supervised release.
Federal public defender Scott Berry, anticipating the prosecution would ask for life under the statutes involved, argued for mercy based on Atkinson being “a 26-year-old child in a man’s body,” who lived with his father, had no previous criminal record and “was acting out sexually through p*rnography, multiple sexual partners, underage sexual partners, and videotaping his sexual exploits.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Schiller rejected Berry’s argument for a 10-year sentence and the testimony of forensic psychologist Dr. Sheila Rapa as to Atkinson’s possibilities in treatment. “Despite Dr. Rapa’s analysis and [Atkinson’s] youth, the minimum sentence of 10 years is wholly insensitive to the crimes purported in this case: [Atkinson] sexually assaulted two girls, produced child p*rnography of them, and solicited countless others,” Schiller said.
Atkinson actually thought the first girl he lured into his van was 13, not 15. They electronically talked across several social media platforms, but virtually met on Twitter in 2022.
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A van, a church, some Discord and video
What follows comes from Atkinson’s guilty plea, which includes what the Palm Beach Gardens girl — referred to as “Minor Victim 1” or “MV1” — told investigators.
MV1 called him “Bearie” after they met on X back when it was still Twitter. She never knew him as “Malik Atkinson.” On the Discord app, Atkinson/”Bearie” was “unknown_ value#5871.”
Atkinson’s guilty plea includes a Discord conversation from May 4, 2022, during which MV1 tells him she’s 13 and in high school, and Atkinson tries to figure out how they can meet. Her band practice was an impediment as well as her family’s sleeping habits (“Can you sneak out at nights or do they stay up for too long?” “They stay up too long...”).
On May 9, MV1 told Atkinson they can meet at “a small church in the middle of the town that people get picked up a lot so it won’t be super sus plus it doesn’t really matter. It’s like a 5 min walk” from her house.
Atkinson told her, “Now ironically Ima be in a suspicious van lol...”
He also asked, “Wanna try making this a weekly thing? And food wise what do you want. Cus I am nice. I’m not just gonna rape you and make you a — dumpster without like feeding you. That’s horrible lol.”
They met in Atkinson’s 1997 white Chevrolet van with a small red and white logo the next day for the first of four or five times. Before they met, Atkinson agreed to pay MV1 $40. She didn’t collect, then told him not to worry about it.
“Atkinson admitted he recorded the sexual encounters with his cellphone, which he sent to Minor Victim 1,” the guilty plea said. “Atkinson said he and Minor Victim 1 exchanged payments to one another for sexually explicit images and videos that Minor Victim 1 sold of herself. Atkinson gave Minor Victim I access to his CashApp account, including his usermame and password. He said that Minor Victim 1 sold sexually explicit images and videos of herself and directed purchasers of said images and videos to send CashApp payments to Atkinson’s CashApp account.”
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Oakland Park
Atkinson went to the Oakland Park home of “Minor Victim 2” or “MV2” when no one was home at least three times.
She told investigators “she resisted Atkinson’s advances, but Atkinson reassured MV2 to trust him and that no one would find out.”
She said Atkinson took photos and video, and promised he would keep them private. At his request, she did send naked pictures of herself.
The case was investigated by FBI Miami and West Palm Beach Resident Agency and prosecuted by Schiller.
