Dramatic video shows alleged sexual predator tackled by girl's family
An Oklahoma father carried out an elaborate sting to catch an alleged sexual predator who he said was targeting his 15-year-old daughter.
Police said Jeremy Dewayne Gibson pursued the girl online and went to her home to have sex with her, but when he arrived, her family tackled him to the ground. Surveillance camera captured the dramatic encounter.
The father, who didn't want us to reveal his name, said when he went to the police, they told him they couldn't really do anything until the suspect actually showed up. So he decided he would handle it himself.
When Gibson arrived at the home around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, he probably didn't expect to be tackled to the ground by three men. His hands and feet were bound with zip ties, reports CBS News correspondent David Begnaud.
The teenage girl he allegedly thought was in the tent was actually a grown woman.
"Did you have any trepidation that somebody might get hurt in all this?" Begnaud asked.
"The thought did cross my mind, yes, very much so. But the situation outweighed those thoughts," the father said.
The father said Gibson recently began sending Facebook messages and nude pictures to his daughter.
"Do you think he knew she was 15?" Begnaud asked.
"Yes. Yes I do," the father said.
"Do you think your daughter understands what she was opening herself up to?" Begnaud asked.
"I don't think she did. I do think she does now," he responded.
The father was apparently tipped off to his daughter's online chats through an app he was using called FamilyTime, which enabled him to monitor her cell phone.
"He was messaging her and encouraging her to meet him… kind of setting up a situation to where she would lose her virginity with him," the father said.
The father filed a police report. Later that day, he saw messages indicating Gibson was meeting his daughter at the family's house that night. So the dad hatched the plan to make a citizen's arrest.
"I told him that he stepped into the wrong back yard, and he messed with the wrong little girl," the father recounted.
Police charged Gibson with one count of using technology to engage in sexual communication with a minor.
"They did it without harming him or leaving any bruises or marks on him," Del City police Maj. Jody Suit said.
Suit said the family's operation was "almost professional."
"But we never encourage people to take the law into their own hands. That's what we're paid to take risks for," Suit said.
"If I wasn't as involved as I am, I don't know when I would have caught this," the father said. "And that scares me… not just for my children and my family but for other children and other families out there."
Gibson allegedly told police he came by the girl's home just to talk to her and point out the error of her ways. He is now out on $15,000 bond.
We dropped by Gibson's house and tried to contact him through family and friends, but so far he hasn't responded.