A Chicago man was charged with grooming and traveling to meet a minor at a New Lenox Walmart after communicating with who he believed to be a 15-year-old girl named Ari, but was actually the creation of a group of people seeking to lure out and confront suspected child predators, Will County prosecutors said.
Police were sent to the Walmart on Lincoln Highway in New Lenox at 7:11 p.m. Friday in response to reports of a disturbance, the New Lenox Police Department said.
Police found Bryan Marinucci, 44, had been confronted by the group of people who created the profile of “Ari,” and who have a YouTube channel where they use messaging apps to “catch people,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Marinucci met “Ari” over a platform called MeetMe, and during their conversations he attempted multiple times to lure her to Chicago before she ordered an Uber to bring him down to meet her at the New Lenox Walmart.
Marinucci told police the purpose of meeting up was to see a movie or get dinner, according to prosecutors. Once he arrived at the Walmart, people began to harass him, screaming at him in the store and calling him a child molester, prosecutors said.
Some messages between Marinucci and “Ari” were sexual in nature, including Marinucci asking “Ari” if she was a virgin, prosecutors said. In one exchange provided by prosecutors, “Ari” gave her age as 15 while Marinucci said he was 44.
Prosecutors argued Marinucci’s willingness to travel 51 miles from his home in Chicago to New Lenox to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl demonstrated “the steps (Marinucci) is willing to go to have interactions with minor children” and that it was clear that he “desires to have sexual relations with minor children.”
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“If (Marinucci) is released from custody, every minor child in this State could be a potential victim,” prosecutors wrote.
Will County Judge Theodore Jarz ordered Sunday that Marinucci remain in custody while his case is pending. His next court date was set for Aug. 17 at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet.
The practice of volunteers posing as children online to meet with and confront suspected predators was popularized by the NBC show “To Catch a Predator,” which ran from 2004 to 2007. The show was canceled in 2008 after a lawsuit from the family of one subject who took his own life as the camera crew entered his home.
“We would like thank the individuals who brought this to our attention and cooperated with the investigation,” the New Lenox Police Department said in a statement. “However, we do not recommend that private citizens attempt undercover investigations and operations.”
Instead, police encouraged parents to make sure their children felt safe telling them about any uncomfortable encounters they had, and to educate their children on online safety.
“These types of actions can create serious safety issues for the individuals involved and the public,” police said. “Criminal investigations are most successful when conducted by law enforcement or other trained professionals.”