TAYLOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — Taylor police recently arrested four men they say believed they were going to meet children to engage in sex. Instead, they walked straight into handcuffs.
Watch Carli's story in the video player below:
Carli Petrus is 7 News Detroit's Downriver beat reporter. If you have a story idea for her, email her at Carli.Petrus@wxyz.com
It was all part of a major undercover sting led by Taylor police, aimed at cracking down on alleged child predators. 7 News Detroit Reporter Carli Petrus got a rare behind-the-scenes look at the three-and-a-half-day operation, showing how local and federal law enforcement are teaming up to keep children safe.
Four arrests in three and a half days marked a high-stakes undercover operation led by Taylor police with help from local and federal agencies.
"If we can't take care of this, what the hell good are we," said Chief John Blair.
The goal: identify and arrest alleged child predators across the region before they can reach a real child.
How the operation works
It starts inside the Taylor Police Department, where detectives work behind screens, pretending to be minors using fake online profiles.
Once a suspect sends a phone number, another team jumps in, identifying them and tracking them using high-tech tools like drones and Flock cameras.
The suspect thinks they're meeting a child for sex. Instead, they're met by police.
Watch bodycam video of one of the arrests in the player below:
"We're watching, everyone's watching. We don't like what's happening, it has to end," Blair said.
Taylor police call it DRAGON - Downriver Response Against Grooming Online. Blair says the program launched last year, completing three previous operations and leading to 14 total arrests.
"2025 January, we did our little kick-off. This is our fourth operation," Blair said.
The push to bring an operation like this to the local level came from Detective Mario Hinojosa.
"You see articles throughout the nation, all these operations going on, all these criminals that maybe don't get caught or are underreported, so this is more proactive rather than reactive," Hinojosa said.
"I have kids myself and there's these guys walking around and doing stuff they shouldn't be doing, reaching out to underage, depending on our profiles we have out there, usually 15, 14, 13-year-old females or boys and there's predators out there that people are unaware of," Hinojosa said.
Four men were arrested this time around, now facing multiple felony charges, including Child Sexually Abusive Activity and the Use of Computers to Commit a Crime.
Blair has a clear message for the community.
"We're going to protect your kids, your grandchildren. We see the most vulnerable that are out there, we see the human trafficking, we see these child sex predators, we're not going to back off. I'm going to take care of your kids, we're going to protect them," Blair said.
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