A photographer with a social media following in the thousands was arrested last week after a sting by a vigilante group known as CC Unit.
"What we do is catch online predators who prey on kids," said the group's founder, who goes by the alias"Ghost".
Ghost says there were a series of sexually explicit texts between Stephens and the decoy account over the course of a few days before they arranged to meet at a mall in San Clemente. Once there, Ghost, who was recording along with two other group members with cameras, confronted Stephens. “He kind of freaks out a bit. He’s like, 'I don’t want to get in trouble. I don’t want to get in trouble. I’m scared of that. I’m scared of going to jail.' I said 'Be honest, what are you here for?' And he admitted he was here for sexual purposes with a 14, he thought it was a 14-year-old.”
Ghost says while they do not work with law enforcement, they always give a heads-up to the jurisdiction where the sting will take place. In the case of the Stephens confrontation, Orange County Sheriff's deputies arrived about ten minutes after Ghost approached Stephens.
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