A Port Orange man was arrested after a five-month investigation allegedly revealed that he harassed a Flagler County woman with thousands of phone calls and filed a false child abuse report against her.
Back in February 2026, the female victim contacted the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and advised that she had received thousands of harassing calls and messages since March of the previous year. All of the calls and messages were from unknown and blocked numbers, according to the agency.
The sheriff’s office stated that on some days, the victim “received 50 or more calls,” and her voicemail was “constantly full of recorded messages and random audio clips.”
Detectives reportedly traced a network of internet-based phone numbers back to a Port Orange resident, identified as 31-year-old Luke Daniel Herbert.
According to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, detectives determined that during one week in early February 2026, Herbert allegedly placed a total of 213 calls to the victim from his personal cellphone, with his number being “disguised” so that each call would “show up as unknown.”
The alleged harassment then escalated beyond phone calls. In December 2025, Herbert reportedly used an internet-based number to “file a false report” with the Florida Department of Children and Families, claiming the victim and her spouse were “abusing their children.”
A child protective investigator was assigned to the case and determined that there was no evidence to support the claim. As a result, the case was closed.
Detectives noted that the only connection between Herbert and the victim was that he had previously been trespassed from the business where she worked. The sheriff’s office also indicated that Herbert had a prior case in Volusia County involving nearly identical behavior, where he pleaded no contest to making harassing phone calls and a judge withheld adjudication.
“This guy thought he could hide behind blocked numbers and phone apps to make a woman’s life miserable. He even weaponized DCF in an attempt to harass her,” said Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly in a media release.
“I commend our detectives, who spent five months pulling back the curtain on him, following the digital breadcrumbs, and conquering the technological hurdles that would overwhelm others,” added Sheriff Staly. “This proves once again why we established the Cyber Crimes Unit just a few years ago.”
On Friday, July 17, 2026, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office arrested Herbert at his Port Orange home on a Flagler County warrant.
Herbert is facing charges of stalking, filing a false report of child abuse, and unlawful use of a two-way communications device. He was transported to the Volusia County Jail, where he was later released on a $12,500 bond.