An out-of-town group specializing in sex-predator sting operations shared some shocking video of an incident that took place Saturday in New Boston. That video has already been viewed well over 100,000 times on Facebook. In the video, members of the group cuss out New Boston Officers and accuse them of not caring about children. Even though New Boston was the first police agency in Scioto County to join the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce (ICAC) and conducted predator stings of its own, leading to arrests.
Pair Claim Man Sought Sex With Baby
Predator Catchers Indianapolis say a 54-year-old New Boston man thought he was meeting up with an 11-year-old girl and her newborn baby sister. The group says the man in question was also speaking with what he believed to be five other children of various ages.
Two group members met up with the man at the New Boston Walmart. The people running the sting told the man to meet them in the movie section of the store. The two approached a man who appeared to be in his late 50s in the store and asked him if he was looking for somebody. He nodded, and the female half of the duo asked the man if he wanted to have a conversation with her or preferred she just turned everything into the police.
The woman says she has records of very graphic conversations with the man and confessed that she had been the one who’d been communicating with him.
The man looks embarrassed and confused and says he doesn’t know who he was there to meet. When the man filming the video accuses him of being there to sexually assault an 11-year-old and a baby, the man replies he was only there to talk to them and begins to walk away rapidly.
When they begin to repeat sexually explicit language about what the man intended to do to the baby, the man breaks into a run. The woman announces loudly, “Attention shoppers! This man likes to rape babies! Watch out for him! He’s from New Boston! He came here to rape kids!”
Confrontation with Police
They follow the man through the parking lot, telling him they know where he lives and will follow them all the way back to his home. He then says he’s not going home. The man appears to be either intellectually disabled or mentally impaired in some way.
They followed the man on foot, and he became more and more agitated. When police officers approach the group, the man from PCI explains about the sting. The alleged predator begins to sob. Officers caution the pair that legally they cannot harass the man.
The man continues sobbing and says he’d been out of his mind. The pair conducting the sting remind him that he’s been talking with them for months. The man continues crying and says that he’s sorry and “just wanted to talk to them.”
The pair tell him that they frequently run stings like this and he’s their 290th catch.
He promises that he won’t do it again and admits that he knows it’s wrong but doesn’t know why he did it. They inform the man that the children he believes he’s talking to online are actually 9 decoys, designed to catch him in the act.
Group Did Not Notify Police
An officer then warns the pair they cannot prevent the man from leaving. When they ask the officer if the police are investigating the man, the officers say they’re investigating the pair for chasing the man.
“Did you hear what he’s doing?” the man asks the officer.
The officer asks if they are part of law enforcement and warns them they cannot detain or question an individual. He says the man is free to leave since the group does not have the authority to detain people.
The pair demand the name and badge number of the officer and accuse him of not caring about an adult man raping children. However, they admit that they did not contact police beforehand and do not explain how the officer is supposed to know if they’re telling the truth or just chasing a man down the street.
Group Bypassed Scioto County Cyber Crimes Unit
When the officer asks why the pair didn’t call the police, the two say they had planned to. The officer explains that in our area, people are supposed to contact the Internet Crimes Unit or the SVU and not just confront suspected predators.
The man from PCI accuses the officer of giving him an attitude and the pair begin to scream at the officer. The officer explains that Walmart called NBPD to report a disturbance and emphasizes that the two do not have the right to detain someone.
The man from PCI cusses out the officer and accuses him of having a bad attitude and not caring all the while pointing out how many arrests and convictions the group has under its belt and warns his 140,000 Facebook followers will see the video.
After the encounter with officers is over, the man suggests race may have played a factor in police telling him he couldn’t detain the man, and the pair then ask for money to help them continue the fight against predators.
The man named as the predator in the video has a previous arrest record, but all were for traffic violations and one open container violation. He has not been in trouble with the law for nearly 20 years.
The Arrest
On Monday, Randolph Hockenheimer, 54, was arrested by Scioto County Sheriff. He is charged with 2 counts of Importuning and 1 count of Disseminating Material Harmful to Minors. All three counts are felony charges. Hockenheimer is being held on a $15,000 bond.
Some sources question why PCI did not share their conversations with law enforcement days ago, so officers could take him into custody. A source who chose to remain anonymous said, “Instead they were content to leave him unmonitored in the community until they came from out of state to do a live confrontation and attempt to raise donations.”
