Prominent chef arrested in sting operation
May 1, 2021 - Michael Morlan, a chef who worked the Vinoy Renaissance Resort in St. Petersburg for 25 years and was most recently employed at Cassis on Beach Drive, was arrested on April 12 for allegedly soliciting underage girls to engage in sex acts with him. His arrest at Jack Puryear Park in northeast St. Pete was the culmination of a sting operation in which undercover detectives posed as teenage girls in social media and phone conversations with Morlan, 57. He faces felony charges of traveling to meet a minor, transmission of harmful material to minors, prohibited computer transmissions and unlawful use of a two-way communications device.