(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -“Hi my name is Jesse and I’m a part of a sting operation. I’m recording for your safety and mine.”
A tense few moments captured on cell phone video at the Coeur d’Alene Albertson’s.
The man behind the camera confronts a man from Saint Maries, who thought he was supposed to be meeting a teenage girl he met online.
Coeur d’Alene Police showed up and they’re now investigating the situation.
“I wish it didn't happen, it happens quite a lot,” Jesse Weeks said.
Weeks is a Coeur d’Alene native and the founder of “Hunted And Confronted," a Facebook page that exploits people Weeks believes are sexual predators.
“They don't realize that they are involved in a sting operation and they end up meeting me,” Weeks said.
Weeks, along with several others, pose as decoys spread out across the United States.
They aren’t using the dark corners of the Internet; rather popular chat apps like Kik and Plenty of Fish and then tell police who can move in for an arrest.
Another one of their stings recently led to the arrest of a registered sex offender in Colorado.
When asked if his works were considered to be entrapment, Weeks said not at all.
Weeks says the work he’s doing is all in the hopes of protecting children.
“Safety of a child is much more than safety,” he said.
If you have kids, Weeks says the best thing you can do to make sure they’re not talking to a predator is to keep an eye on what they do on their phone and computer.