ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A firefighter was arrested for allegedly molesting children in Central Florida. Orange County investigators said Joseph Habib targeted other firefighters' children. Detectives traveled hundreds of miles to track him down.

Orange County sex crimes detectives said two 5-year-olds, a 7-year-old and an 8-year-old, all boys, were the victims. They are the children of three local firefighters. Investigators said one of the parents actually saw it happen.

Imagine a parent's horror after having witnessed someone fondling a child right before their very eyes. Investigators said it happened at a state convention for paramedics at the Renaissance Resort near SeaWorld.

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"He said, 'Did I just see what I think I just saw?' [and] got the children out of the pool," explained sex crimes detective Sgt. Richard Mankewich.

The boys' parents are paramedics with Seminole County, Lake Mary and Maitland fire departments. When the parents asked the children about it, they said Broward County Firefighter Joseph Habib had taken a game of touch football way too far.

"As he's tackling these kids in the pool, he's actually slipping his hands under their bathing suits and fondling them," Mankewich said.

The parents said the 27-year-old firefighter vanished from the resort Saturday night. But Sunday night, Sgt. Mankewich and another detective were waiting for Habib at Fire Station 81 in Broward County when he showed up for work.

"He said he was very intoxicated. He's always been fantasizing about this and he finally, through the alcohol, acted out on his fantasies," Mankewich said. "He also says he has photographs of children on his computer."

Investigators said Habib admitted to having been investigated years before, after parents at a public park didn't like the way he was looking at their child, but he was not charged in that case.

Habib was in jail on no bond and was suspended without pay.