PBPD cyber crimes unit catches online predator

A Sikeston man was arrested locally Tuesday afternoon when he arrived for what he thought was to be a meeting with a teenaged girl.

Poplar Bluff Police Department Detective Danny Hicks learned Tuesday of an ongoing online conversation between the Facebook profile of a 13-year-old female and the Facebook profile of a 49-year-old male, Lt. Josh Stewart said in a press release.

“During the conversation, the male, later identified as Vesteen Taylor of Sikeston, Missouri, made remarks of a sexual nature, and at one point, requested nude images of the female,” Stewart said.

Taylor, Stewart believes, was communicating with a person in the Dexter area, and that person alerted Hicks.

“Upon Detective Hicks’ involvement in the case, he continued the conversation in an undercover manner,” Stewart said. “The conversation continued, and Taylor arranged to meet the juvenile at a location in Poplar Bluff.”

Investigators subsequently conducted surveillance on a convenience store on North Westwood Boulevard until Taylor’s arrival, Stewart said.

Taylor was arrested at about 4:30 p.m., interviewed and then lodged at the Butler County Justice Center pending the filing of formal charges for enticement of a child and promoting child pornography, Stewart said.

Those charges, Stewart said, are being sought through Scott County, which is where the conversations originated.

Stewart said Hicks seized Taylor’s cellphone, which Hicks “will be processing that. … Any additional evidence located on the phone” could result in charges in Butler County.

“In a case like this, I think we are expecting there to be additional items on the phone, but there very well could not be,” said Stewart, who is unaware if Hicks seized any other devices from Taylor.

“Most people, any more, it’s all on their phones,” said Stewart.

Taylor, “to my knowledge” does not have a history of such offenses, Stewart said.

As commander of the Southeast Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, Stewart said, Hicks covers 15 counties and is familiar with working with the prosecutors in Scott County, so he “can make the investigation go fluidly.”

Investigators, Stewart said, also will be contacting the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI to explore the possibility of federal prosecution against Taylor.

Poplar Bluff Police Chief Danny Whiteley expressed his thanks to Hicks for his “expertise and diligence in protecting our young children from another online, dangerous pervert trying to exploit and victimize an innocent child through the use of social media.”

Whiteley encouraged parents and guardians to be “extremely proactive with their children in explaining the dangers of social media conversations with strangers.

“These strangers may wish to do them physical and/or psychological harm and initiate this harm through online communications and manipulation.”

Whiteley described “these people” as being a “cancer to all young kids (and) need to be put away for life, so they cannot hurt and ruin more kids’ lives across the nation.”

The completion of the new police department, according to Whiteley, will provide added capabilities for the department’s Cyber Crimes Division to accommodate new and updated forensic equipment, which will be obtained primarily through federal and state grants.

“The added security of having an appropriate space for equipment, victims and suspects will be of great value in putting these hideous criminals in prison,” Whiteley said.