Undercover Underage Recap for Worst of the Worst
-This week’s Undercover, Underage is titled Worst of the Worst. The SOSA group gets together to help catch predators on Reddit and other forms of social media.
-Mackenzie, Abby and Skylar are the decoys this week, all pretending to be teenage girls in order to catch pedophiles and bring them to justice.
-Mackenzie is talking to ACM, who is 23 and wants to see pictures of her….and then meet up, She tries to get out of it, but he insists on meeting up at the Park on Wednesday for sex. The conversations are done via Omegle and Snapchat and are sexual in nature.
-Roo is notified about this and takes down the information Mackenzie was given. Jordan, who is also working on this case, believes he is a lot older than 23 based on the pictures.
-The conversations become more and more sexual….with him even asking her to send him ‘something to look forward to….for science.’
-Further research and observations into the pictures he sent make them wonder if he works in a school. They are able to infer that he works with kids (based on a motivational poster in a picture) and has connections to South West Oklahoma State University.
-Another picture shows him as a best man in a wedding, but they are unable to get anything using a reverse image search. They are, however, able to find out he has a Park and Rec degree, has a brother and likes the color blue. He also works as a park ranger/outdoor teacher.
-He is dubbed The Park Ranger. He faces 20 years in prison for lewd proposals to a child under 16.
-Things get scarier when Mackenzie suggests meeting at Sonic. He says there will be too many people around and wants to meet somewhere more secluded. This scares everyone and Roo has a gut feeling that he is somehow involved with kids.
-Isabel and Jordan are also working on getting pictures to help catch another predator. Both of them are used for ‘Abby’ and the pictures are photoshopped together to make it look like they are the same person.
-The predator in question found Abby on Instagram and wants to bathe and clothe her…..in the first twenty minutes of the conversation. He is Unknown and faces the same charges as the Park Ranger.
-The whole thing seems to be taking a mental toll on Isabel, especially when she is on the phone with Unknown. Roo is with her and helps coach her through the conversation. It gets disturbing when he asks for shower pictures and about her friends….and if any of them wear diapers. They know Unknown is infantilizing her, but this takes it to a whole new level.
-Things get worse when he takes an interest in her friend’s 2-year-old sister…..so they use AI to try and create a picture of her in order to lure him out and make their move. (NOTE: This is NOT a real child, just one created by them using AI technology)
-The conversations get more and more disturbing when he keeps talking about wanting to take Abby and her friends.
-Roo helps Mackenzie prepare for her meeting with The Park Ranger, who wants to know if she wants to try anything for the first time during said meeting. Despite the information they are getting, Roo worries that they might not have enough lead time to get him.
-SOSA begins looking into yearbooks from SWOSU in hopes of finding The Park Ranger. However, it leads to yet another dead end.
-Haley hits pay dirt and finds Unknown on Instagram…..he is a 24-year-old Patriot, which becomes his new code name. They are able to get a lot of information off his page, including his identity and Facebook profile. However, he is in Kansas, which is out of their jurisdiction.
-The Park Ranger’s location is found thanks to Snapchat. He is in Ringwood, Oklahoma, which has a very small population. This narrows things down and, thanks to an extensive deep dive into the community, they are able to find the wedding where he was a best man. Roo continues to search and finds his identity and job…which is ironically a child welfare specialist.
-Roo gets more information on his job, which is basically helping abused children get out of their homes. They all know they have to move fast in order to bring him to justice.
-The Park Ranger is caught and brought into custody. He claims he had a weakness and a lapse in judgement when it came to talking to Mackenzie and sees the error of his ways.
-The Patriot is having second thoughts about meeting with Abby but continues to contact her and send explicit pictures. She and Roo stage another call, where she plays innocent in order to get him to talk and show up…so they can make an arrest.
-Roo plans to meet with The Patriot as Abby so she is not put in danger. Authorities are at the ready to make an arrest once he arrives.
-The Patriot is also taken down and arrested. He claims he did say some stuff that was inappropriate during his conversations with Abby….and everyone has regrets.
-The Patriot is out on bail and faces one count of lewd proposals to a child under 16 and one count of possession of child pornography. He faces up to 40 years in prison.
-The Park Ranger is currently in jail. He has two years in prison and eight years of probation after pleading guilty to a felony offense of soliciting sexual conduct with a minor by use of technology.
