HANCOCK COUNTY, W.Va. — An organization called Big Country’s Predator Exposure posted a livestream on Facebook that captured the attention of both residents and law enforcement in Hancock County.
It included a knock on a door that opened more than just someone’s apartment, it opened the door to an investigation against an alleged child predator.
Big Country’s Predator Exposure said that what led them to that door that day was results from one of their sting operations.
“We have decoy profiles of younger individuals online ranging anywhere from 9 to 13 years old,” Big Country Predator Exposure Operator Max Term said. “This particular case, we had a decoy profile on Facebook.”
The alleged predator, a 65-year-old man from Hancock County, proceeded to friend request and send a message to the decoy–a 12-year-old girl.
After some initial messages, including one where he found out the girl was 12, Term said the conversation started to shift.
“He then slowly progressed into, ‘come visit,’ started speaking graphically, asking for her to come visit for sexual interactions,” Term said. “Even gave his cell phone number, and his address to his apartment.”
Finally, after collecting enough information through the messages, including lewd photos, Term and his team made the trip to Hancock County to confront the man.
Hancock County Sheriff Scott Gittings confirmed that an investigation is ongoing, and that a search warrant for the accused was garnered on behalf of the evidence given by the Big Country’s team.
“They were much beneficial to us, and their information to us was highly beneficial in getting us the search warrant and so-on and so-forth,” Gittings said. “So, we’re very appreciative of what they did, and we’re going to try to work forward and make sure we get this guy behind bars.”
With the investigation still going on, Term does have some advice for parents that might be concerned about their kids’ safety online.
“We’re just not doing a good enough job as a society,” Term said. “We’re giving too much reliance on electronics and thinking that the kids are safe because they’re in their bedroom. They’re not.”
