Video shows the arrest of a man who thought he was meeting a child in Virginia

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A video shows the moment a 64-year-old sex offender is arrested and charged with trying to meet an 11-year-old girl in Virginia Beach.

However, there was no girl, just a group called Predator Poachers.

They had an undercover sting operation on September 19, 2024, around 2 a.m. on Birch Lake Road in Virginia Beach.

The meeting allegedly involved an 11-year-old girl named Emily at her apartment complex. A decoy with Predator Poachers, posing as the child, said they had been talking to 64-year-old Rick Horton for several weeks, according to court records detailing the case.

When Horton was parked near a dumpster, Alex Rosen showed up with Predator Poachers and started talking to Horton in the video.

The argument lasted about 35 minutes, during which Horton said he had child pornography on his laptop and admitted to talking to minors online who sent him videos and photos.

Rosen asked him questions about his life and the accusations.

As Horton told Rosen he was going to smash his laptop and throw it into a fire pit, Virginia Beach police arrived.

Horton, a registered sex offender, was arrested.

He was previously arrested in Norfolk in 2003 for rape and was charged several times for failing to register as a sex offender over the years. He now faces thirteen new charges of possession of child pornography, indecent liberties with a child and other related charges.

Rosen said Predator Poachers travel the country to capture suspected online child predators and film their interactions with them.

He said he has conducted hundreds of such stings over the past five years and assisted in arrests in 46 states.

“I would say Virginia is actually the best state to do this. They are taking these cases as the most serious of any state,” Rosen said.

Critics of the group say undercover operations should be left to professionals and can be dangerous.

Brian Luciano, the executive director of the Virginia Beach Police Benevolent Association, said his two biggest concerns are for the safety of the civilian investigators and the integrity of the case.

“But anything that takes sexual predators off the streets and can help police do their job is obviously positive,” Luciano said.

Rosen said Horton was surprised when he turned around and saw police standing there.

“We called them after he admitted wanting to have sex with the 11-year-old girl and having child pornography. And of course when the police come by, he goes into great detail about what he has on his laptop, but he has no idea they’re behind him, which was great,” Rosen said.

Horton declined an interview with WTKR from prison. He is currently being held without bond.