ELKTON, Md. — He thought he was meeting a man about a job in Elkton, but 30-year-old Kevonte Purnell soon learned Predator Poachers had pulled off a civilian sting that would lead to his arrest.
“They called our local 911 and had our officers get dispatched up to the parking lot of Five Guys, because they said they had a fellow there that was talking to a 13-year-old minor online, which happened to be a decoy through their Predator Poachers online watchdog group,” said Elkton Police Lt. Ron Odom.
Predator Poachers serve up arrest in Elkton
Using fake accounts on dating apps to find adults seeking children for sex, the group starts up online conversations and in this case, it learned enough about Purnell to act.
“During the course of their interaction with him, the suspect, they learned that he had child pornography on his telephone,” said Odom, “They didn’t take any steps to seize his phone or anything. They just had a conversation with him.”
Purnell was already wanted on an outstanding warrant tied to another case out of Wicomico County.
Knowing that was enough to pick him up, and officers moved in and arrested him, later finding the child porn on his phone that would lead to more charges.
Purcell is from Baltimore, and asked if such sting operations could actually lure suspects to places like Elkton where they may not visit otherwise, Odom’s response is clear cut.
“If you’re going to hurt a child, we don’t care where it’s at. If we can do anything to help stop that, we’re going to do it.’"
