Arresting US beauty traps sex freaks

OKLAHOMA CITY: Lauren Nelson, who was crowned Miss America this year, can justifiably claim to be an arresting beauty: she moonlights as a crime fighter.

Nelson recently went undercover with the police in New York for a sting operation targeting sexual predators. Suffolk County’s computer crimes unit created an online profile of a 14-year-old girl that included photographs of Nelson as a teenager. “I chatted online with the predators and made phone calls too,” Nelson said. 

The operation was filmed for a segment of America’s Most Wanted that will air on Saturday in the US. At least four men have been arrested in the operation, and another six fell for the ruse. Nelson, 20, went into chat rooms posing as a young teen. Some men sent her instant messages asking her how old she was and where she lived.

“I would say I’m a 14-year-old from Long Island. Some would say, ‘You’re too young, sorry,’ which is exactly what needs to happen,” Nelson said. “But others would continue chatting. And often, it got explicit.” Nelson then arranged to meet the men at a home in Long Island, where police and camera crews were waiting. 

“The story was, they knew I was 14. And I told them I was cutting school to meet them,” Once in the house, Nelson left the room, and police and John Walsh, the host of America’s Most Wanted, confronted the stunned suspect.