Hastings Police address viral video involving alleged child enticement incident
The Hastings Police Department is responding to a viral video making waves in the community.
By News Channel NebraskaHASTINGS, Neb. — The Hastings Police Department is responding to a viral video making waves in the community.
The video comes from Frontlines Child Safety Unit and urges police to file charges against a man for child enticement. In a video posted last week, the media group run by Turning Point USA has reporters confront a man they say is a child predator. The group says it had a staff member pose as a 12-year-old girl and engage in conversations with a 23-year-old Hastings man. The group alleges the man sent messages mentioning kissing and sex to the girl.
A news release says Hastings Police found out about the situation when they were called about a hit-and-run accident in July. The crash was caught on video and happened after Frontlines confronted the man about his alleged interactions with the decoy. Police cited the man for the crash and investigated the child enticement accusations.
Police say they can’t arrest the man for multiple reasons. They say he no longer lives in Hastings and was outside of the city when he sent most messages to the decoy. The decoy was out of state during the communication, meaning Hastings Police doesn’t have any jurisdiction over the conversations. Additionally, Nebraska law requires a true child victim or a decoy that is part of law enforcement in order to file child enticement charges.
“It is disappointing that no law enforcement entity was provided information prior to Frontlines’ arrival in Hastings and confronting the 23-year-old,” Police said in the news release. “If this had been reported to Nebraska criminal investigators sooner, law enforcement could have potentially conducted their own investigation following Nebraska law.”
The news release says police believe that none of the information obtained by Frontlines can be used to support a criminal action in Nebraska.
Police encourage people to reach out to law enforcement to report any suspected criminal activity involving possible child victims.