By SYDNEY KENT
A man from Colombia City was arrested after allegedly attempting to meet a 14-year-old at Walmart in Bluffton Saturday night.
Jonathan W. Goldwood, 37, was charged with one count of child solicitation, a Level 4 felony. Goldwood is the 17th subject arrested in Wells County through a Predator Catchers Indianapolis sting operation.
According to a livestreamed video on the group’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, Goldwood accused PCI of entrapping him.
“This was an entrapment. You pretended,” Goldwood fumbled his words. “Why do you have kids go online to —”
“Sir, you are married and you were on Grindr,” a member from PCI said. “You talked to a kid for five months.”
Grindr is one of several social networking platforms the group uses to create a decoy account.
“Civilians can’t entrap anyone,” another PCI member said. “It’s not entrapment.”
Goldwood claimed that he was saving the child from other people. The group thanked People Versus Press, a group that does similar work, for acting as a decoy in the case.
Goldwood’s bond is set at $15,000.
sydney@news-banner.com
