PATTERSON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A man was arrested after a collaborative effort between an online predator hunter group and Beaver County detectives.
According to court documents, the online group, “814 Pred Hunters,” communicated with a man named “Rob” while using the alias of a 15-year-old girl.
The nonprofit organization that monitors the internet for adults trying to meet children for sexual purposes reported that “Rob” responded to a decoy profile made on Facebook Dating. That profile had an age-regressed photo of the decoy.
Police say the decoy explicitly said, “I’m only 15″ at one point over the app.
The conversation was moved off Facebook and continued over text. Using a commercial database, the group learned the number was registered to Robert L. Chapman, 44, of Beaver Falls.
Court documents say Chapman began questioning the person who he believed was a teen girl about sexual acts and indicated that he would like to have a sexual relationship.
On July 29, 814 Pred Hunters contacted the Beaver County Detective Bureau and gave them permission to take over the decoy account.
Detectives organized a meetup with Chapman at the Brady’s Run Walking Trail along Constitution Blvd in Patterson Township on Sept. 29.
Court documents say Chapman said he bought flowers and candy to bring to the meeting. He also said he had a hotel secured for the encounter.
The detective, acting as the teen, asked Chapman to send a photo of himself and he did, showing he was wearing a pink shirt.
When Chapman arrived, police took him into custody, noting he matched the description and picture of the photo that had been sent.
Police say, upon his arrest, Chapman admitted to messaging the decoy under the impression she was a teen girl.
“A HUGE shout-out to the Beaver County detectives and District Attorney’s Office for being awesome to work with and for taking the situation seriously. We appreciate the professionalism, communication, and cooperation,” 814 Pred Hunters said in a post to Facebook.
The collaborative arrest comes a week after 814 Predator Hunters criticized Beaver County prosecutors for their handling of a suspect who is accused of trying to lure a teenage girl inot his truck as she was leaving school in Rochester.
Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible stressed charges filed based on evidence brought to them by online predator hunter groups vary on a case-to-case basis.
“There are cases where they have sufficient evidence that they bring to us for us to warrant filing of criminal charges and there’s other cases where we have to evaluate it and say we don’t have enough here and then we can either try to get additional evidence through our own investigation or we decline to prosecute,” Aubele said.
Chapman is being held at the Beaver County Prison and is currently unable to post bail.
Watch the video below for more details about the arrest made in Rochester Borough last week.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW