A Pennsylvania police officer is charged with child luring after he was caught in Atlantic City by a group of online child predator hunters.
Clifford Horn, 54, is a corporal with the Central Bucks Regional Police Department.
But in chats with “Josh,” a boy he thought was 14 years old, Horn was “Matt” looking for a sexual encounter, according the man who was really on the other end of those texts.
FM, who is with Creeps Spotlight, shared shots from the chat with BreakingAC.
They show FM told “Matt” that he was 14 years old, adding “hope u cool wit it.”
“Yikes,” the man replies at 9:13 a.m.
While the age may have surprised him, the conversation doesn’t end there.
“Are you at a hotel,” he texts a minute later.
The two then spend the next hour planning to meet at the boy’s rental home on North Ohio Avenue, after his mom leaves for the casino.
“Are you coming,” the “boy” asks at 10:20 a.m.
“No one is there?” the man replies.
“No,” he responds. “Im by myself.”
“There is a truck running out front,” the man says.
Watching Horn text in front of the home was Tommy Fellows, who runs Colorado Ped Patrol, another online predator hunter.
When the group descends on Horn with cell phones livestreaming on YouTube, he keeps walking away from them, insisting he’s not Matt and that he has done nothing wrong.
“You’re embarrassing me, first of all,” he says at one point. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You sure?” FM asks.
“I’m positive,” he replies.
That is because there was no real child, FM counters.
“The kid doesn’t exist,” he says. “The kid is me.”
“Here buddy, we got you a ride all day,” Fellows then says as an Atlantic City police car pulls up.
Horn was charged with luring/enticing a child by various means, and released on a summons.
All criminal cases involving Horn are being evaluated by the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, the district attorney said in a statement.
“Our office has assigned personnel to assist New Jersey authorities in any capacity, and to investigate and prosecute any criminal activity that may have occurred in Bucks County,” DA Matt Weintraub said. “This office protects all victims, regardless of whether the accused perpetrator is an officer or not. No one is above the law.”
