A man accused of impregnating a 13-year-old Volusia County girl had been following her family for years, the victim's family said Thursday.

Robert Bellamy Jr. turned himself in Thursday on charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a child under 12 years old. Though the victim is now 13, Daytona Beach police said Bellamy started having sex with her when she was just 10.

Police said Bellamy fathered the victim's baby, who was born in August. As he was taken into custody Thursday, Bellamy told reporters he had not seen the child.

It's a crime Daytona Beach police Chief Mike Chitwood called "unfathomable." The investigation began in the spring, when the 13-year-old victim told her mother she was pregnant.

Police said at first, the victim lied about the father, until her mother noticed dozens of calls from Bellamy on the family's phone bill.

Family members said they have known Bellamy since 2005, because wherever they moved, he just happened to end up in the same apartment complex.

"In 27-plus years of law enforcement service, this is probably one of the most disgusting, despicable, cowardly acts that I can think of," said Chitwood. "Basically the investigation shows he started grooming this girl when she was a very young girl. When they moved over to Daytona Beach, he followed her over."

The girl told detectives the inappropriate touching started when she was just 10, and after two years of trying to convince her, they finally started having sex.

When the baby was born in August, detectives immediately tested the DNA. The results came back Wednesday, showing a match that lab analysts from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said they would only get from 1 in 18 million random samples.

Police issued a warrant for Bellamy's arrest on Wednesday. Bellamy surrendered Thursday, though he denied the charges as he walked into the police department.

When asked if the baby was his child, Bellamy told reporters, "That's what the papers say."

Bellamy also denied having sexual contact with the then-10-year-old, and said he did not love the girl.

"You've got to be a real scumbag to attack a child like that," said Chitwood. "It turns your stomach. Any of us that have daughters would say he's lucky he's arrested and walking into a jail cell in the criminal justice system."

Bellamy was locked up in the Volusia County Branch Jail on a bond of $100,000.