Atlantic City police are investigating after a registered sex offender allegedly tried to meet a 15-year-old girl for sex.
But when Scott Hart came to the Boardwalk to meet up with the girl, he found Justin Perry instead.
Perry is known to a growing community of followers as Mr. 17540.
For about a year and a half, he has been running his own form of “To Catch a Predator.”
Last month, he drove 2 hours and 45 minutes to meet the Venice Park man who “said some pretty graphic stuff” to the person he believed to be a 15-year-old girl.
That is all Perry knew at the time. He arrived, to find a man who he noted seemed “not all there.”
He also found the 53-year-old man is a registered sex offender.
Hart pleaded guilty to a 1989 Union County case in which he was first charged with aggravated sexual assault, court records show.
He later pleaded guilty to endangering abuse/neglect/sexual acts to a child. Hart was sentenced to five years’ probation in 1991.
He is one of 167 sex offenders registered as living in Atantic City. Most, like Hart, are listed as a Tier 2 offenders, meaning they are a moderate risk. The posting says he sexually assaulted a boy and a girl.
The video first posted July 10, now has more than 20,000 views on Facebook.
Viewers included Atlantic City police detectives.
“Detectives are looking into the video,” Sgt. Kevin Fair told BreakingAC last week.
A few hours after that confirmation, Perry said he received a call from detectives.
“They just reach out to me and want to charge the guy,” he told BreakingAC. “Sending over all the information right now.”
“She’s how old?” Perry asks Hart, who is seated on a bench near the Hard Rock Hotel Casino Atlantic City.
“I know, 15,” replies Hart, who Perry notes appears to be mentally slow. “I know and I’m sorry.”
Now, Perry said he’s met with Atlantic City police detectives.
“I drove down there today to meet with these detectives,” Perry told his followers in a video posted Wednesday night.
He said he was nervous but that the meeting went well.
“To hear what these men have said to me today makes it all worth it,” Perry said of his mission that often earns him “haters,” including police.
They told him to be safe, but “we’re glad to see someone’s out there doing this.”
Perry also had good things to say about the detectives.
“Shout out to the Atlantic City Police Department,” he said in the video. “Five out of five stars.”
No charges have been publicly announced.
