Stumbo brings Dateline and Perverted Justice to Bowling Green

It's day three of our undercover investigation here in Bowling Green, Kentucky -- population 50,000. Our first guest arrives at noon, right on time. Jeremy Todd West, 27, pulls in the driveway and our decoy invites him in.

Decoy: Hey.

West: How's it going'?

Decoy: Good. How are you?

West: Tired.

Calling himself bandit8077, he starts chatting online with a decoy posing as a 13-year-old girl. After only about 20 minutes he says he'd like to meet. Two days later he asks her this...

They're at it again. Chris Hansen brought the road show to Bowling Green Kentucky. And as always...there's film. But of the perps who show up on the MSNBC website...only one was from Kentucky. The perps. Most, like West, came from Tennessee.

During the first attorney general sting in Louisville about a year ago, seven men were arrested. All were convicted of a felony.

During the second sting last April -- again with Dateline not present –- 11 men arrived at this house in northern Kentucky.

And all 11 were arrested.

One man has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. The other 10 have pleaded guilty.

Stumbo Video.

Greg Stumbo: We know that-- that predators are now saying, "We're not coming to Kentucky. They're watching for us. So Kentucky’s kids are safer.”

14th suspect nabbed in N Ky Internet sex sweep

Highland Heights police and the sex crime-fighters at Perverted Justice snared another suspect Friday in a net that, since April, has hauled 14 men into court, all accused of attempting to meet young teenagers for sex in Northern Kentucky.

Friday afternoon, police arrested a 43-year-old western Kentucky man in the Lowes hardware store parking lot on Alexandria Pike, where they said Randy Stone had arranged to meet what he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex.

But the teen-ager was actually an adult decoy at Perverted Justice, a nonprofit group that works with law enforcement nation-wide to catch sexual predators through on-line chatrooms.

Highland Heights Police Chief Carl Mullen said Stone has been talking on-line with the decoy since April and had actually first made the five-hour trip from his home in Alma, Ky., to meet the girl on Thursday.

This from the Cincinnati Post.

Stumbo, Campbell County Comm Attny, Peverted Justice nab 11 in N Ky sting

Attorney General Greg Stumbo speaks to press about arrests of 11 suspects in Child Sexual Predator Sting.

KBI Commissioner David James (left); Campbell County Commonwealths Attorney Jack Porter (right).

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports:



One drove more than 200 miles to meet an underage child with whom he'd chatted online, according to Campbell Commonwealth's Attorney Jack Porter.



The sting (with video) came about after Attorney General Greg Stumbo contacted Campbell County law enforcement officials six weeks ago. Numerous local law enforcement agencies worked with a non-profit group, Perverted Justice, to try to catch adults soliciting children in online chat rooms.

"We're police. We only have one thing we like to do - put bad people in jail. And we got to put these perverts in jail this weekend," said Campbell County Police Chief Keith Hill. "That made it a success for us." He said his officers alone put in 127 hours of overtime to work the case.

The sting was set up in an undisclosed home in Highland Heights, where the 11 men were arrested after showing up to visit the child. The whole operation was filmed by Dateline NBC's "To Catch A Predator" series, although a local official said it was unclear whether the footage would ever be aired.