A 27-year-old man is in custody after police in Port St. Lucie said he was seeking sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl, ensnared by a group known as the “Predator Poachers.”
A Port St. Lucie man was arrested Thursday after allegedly seeking sexual relations with an adult who was posing as a teen girl.
The communications were part of an operation by a group known as the Predator Poachers.
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The group uses social media accounts to conduct sting operations on adults seeking sex with minors.
They first pose as the minors online, set a time for their camera crew to confront the adult seeking sexual relations with minors and then notify law enforcement authorities.
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Rodney Hickman, 27, thought he was communicating with a 13-year-old girl named “Lilly” over Instagram.
Detectives said Hickman and "Lilly" began to text back and forth, with Hickman eventually sending a lewd photograph.
After months of communications, Hickman was confronted by the Predator Poachers group during a planned meetup with the ‘teen.’
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Alex Rosen, the founder of Predator Poachers, says Hickman admitted his intentions during an interview.
The group then called Port St. Lucie police to the scene, who reportedly seized the suspect's phone as evidence to be forensically reviewed.
Hickman is now facing several charges including obscene communication and cruelty towards a child. He is being held at the St. Lucie County Jail.
While this operation by the Predator Poachers did lead to an arrest this time around, Port St. Lucie police say they do not encourage groups running similar operations -- as their actions could have serious consequences.
