A Louisiana TV news anchor has reportedly resigned after getting caught in a vigilante sting operation that targeted child predators.
Bill Lunn, 59, an on-air anchor and news director for KTBS in Shreveport, Louisiana, allegedly arraigned to meet up with a group of self-described “predator hunters” who were posing as a 15-year-old girl online, according to KTAL News.
The TV journalist allegedly arrived to meet with a teen girl on his lunch break, one of the predator hunters told the outlet. When he arrived, he was greeted by three men who Lunn claims tried to steal his truck and beat him up, the outlet reported.
Lunn called the police, and the three men — Antonio Coleman, Kataurio Grigsby and Kameron Kennon — waited for officers to arrive to share their side of the story, the outlet noted.
The text conversation between Lunn and Coleman, who was posing as the girl, began on May 28, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Police Arrest Former MLB Pitcher In Child Sex Sting, Authorities Say).
“They had a little conversation going on, and he asked how old she was. The girl told him she was 15 years old,” Coleman told the outlet, noting that the interactions quickly turned sexual.
“He was, like, sending pictures to her. He was saying, like, he wanted to do this to her,” Coleman told KTAL News. “Explicit things that I can’t say on camera.”
Louisiana TV anchor resigns after he was allegedly caught sexting 15-year-old girl — who turned out to be vigilante ‘predator hunters’ https://t.co/7G4snCkRIf pic.twitter.com/r9JsCT6gED
— New York Post (@nypost) June 5, 2024
The meet-up between Lunn and the fake teen was set for the next day, the outlet reported.
“He came on his lunch break from work to come meet her,” Coleman told KTAL. “You could see the guilt in his eyes. He knew like, ‘Oh, I’m done.'”
The predator hunters told the outlet the news anchor attempted to flee the scene of the meet-up.
“As Bill was running off, he yells, ‘I have a wife and kids,'” Grigsby told the outlet. “I’m sitting there as he’s running off, like in my head, how can you say that when you literally walked yourself in the house expecting to meet an underage teenager.”
Officers handcuffed Lunn and placed him in the back of a police car, but after serveral hours they released all parties from the scene, and no charges were filed, KTAL News reported.
Lunn resigned from KTBS on Monday, the outlet noted.
Dhu Thompson, Lunn’s attorney, told the New York Post that the former news anchor “vehemently denies” the accusations.
“It is our preliminary understanding that this incident was not the result of a law enforcement investigation, but rather one done by private individuals,” Thompson said in a statement to the Post. “Our primary concern at this time is that law enforcement receives all evidence surrounding this incident so that they can make a thorough and complete review. Mr. Lunn has cooperated with authorities and vehemently denies any allegations of wrongdoing.”
“It is our hope that after a thorough review of all the evidence surrounding this matter that Mr. Lunn will be shown to be innocent and cleared of all allegations,” Thompson continued, according to the Post.
