Sex offender had inappropriate talk with teen girls at Apex skate park, police say

Jonathan Bryan Hartgrove, a registered sex offender, told police that he talked about "sexuality, but not directly about having sex " with two teen girls at a skate park in Apex on Monday.

But one person who reported overhearing the conversation between Hartgrove and the teens, ages 13 and 16, said the 36-year-old man was discussing "their vaginas and other sexual content," according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Police say they learned that Hartgrove sat between the girls and began talking about domestic violence, having sex with multiple partners and infidelity.

He also invited the girls to his home to smoke marijuana, they say. The girls declined and told police they were trying to get Hartgrove "to leave them alone," according to an arrest warrant filed Wednesday morning at the Wake County Clerk of Courts Office.

The teens told police that Hartgrove told them "he did not have a problem having sex with juveniles, as long as it was consensual," Apex detective Josh MacMonagle stated in the search warrant application.

Police arrested Hartgrove, who lives on Spice Ridge Lane in Raleigh, at the Rogers Family Skate Plaza at about 4:30 p.m. Monday. He was seen talking with the minors at Hunter Street Park, where police say between 30 and 40 children were present that day.

Hartgrove was convicted in October 2014 in Johnston County of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor for possessing child pornography.

Investigators have now charged Hartgrove with one felony count of being a sex offender on premises where minors frequent and with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

Police found a small bag of syringes and an unknown white crystal powder in Hartgrove's possession after his arrest. Hartgrove told the officers that the white powder belonged to a friend.

While an officer read him his rights, Hartgrove made "several unprovoked statements" about his intentions for being at the state park and said he didn't think he had done anything wrong, MacMonagle reported.

Hartgrove spoke with an attorney and refused to make further statements to police, but then "repeatedly made unprovoked statements about previous charges for child pornography and drug possession."

A magistrate set Hartgrove's bail at $20,000 and ordered that he be placed under house arrest with electronic monitoring if he is released from custody.

Investigators used the search warrant to look for evidence of drug and sex offender violations on Hartgrove's cellphone, iPad and iPhone.

This story was originally published April 4, 2018 at 2:01 PM with the headline "Sex offender had inappropriate talk with teen girls at Apex skate park, police say."