Justin McGee thought he was driving to Milledgeville to meet up with a 13-year-old girl at the Super Inn motel on North Columbia Street.
When he arrived, however, he was quickly surrounded by a film crew and a burly Youtuber named Alex Rosen, the leader of a group that calls themselves the Predator Poachers.
In the meantime, the Predator Poachers let the Milledgeville Police Department know they were in town, and detectives responded to the motel and began their own investigation. McGee, who lives in rural Hancock County and is listed with a Union Point address, ultimately was arrested and charged with one count of enticing a minor for indecent purposes.
The Predator Poachers are part of a social media trend, one that involves vigilantes who lure potential predators into public under the false pretense of having sex with minors. A video of the sting later is posted on the group’s various social media channels. The investigative parts largely are conducted online and involve various message boards and private chats.
This is the second time the trend has reached Milledgeville. A group called the Pred Hunters were in town earlier this year. The video from that incident hasn't yet been posted on the Pred Hunters social media channels, and that case remains under investigation, with no arrest having been made, according to Maj. Brandon Sellers with the Milledgeville Police Department.
Sellers said that McGee’s arrest wouldn't have been possible without the hard work done by the Predator Poachers. At the same time, though, Sellers said he wishes they would have called the MPD sooner.
“We don't disagree with what these guys are trying to accomplish. We just wish they’d do it the right way,” Sellers said. “They care about the clicks. If they didn't care about the clicks, they’d have let us know way before they did.”
Sellers said that he “didn't want to give away any trade secrets,” but he did say that some of the vigilante group’s tactics “wouldn't always hold up in court.”
“Our priorities are different, you could say. The Youtubers want clicks, but we want good cases that we can prosecute people with in court,” he added.
A conviction for enticing a minor for indecent purposes equals a minimum 10-year prison sentence. There also is no “first offender” option, and people charged with the crime cannot plead first offender. When cases aren't quite as strong, a plea deal is a possibility, and the defendant pleads to a lesser charge.
Roughly 150 people currently are serving state prison sentences for enticing a minor for indecent purposes, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections' database.