He thought he was meeting a teenage girl for sex. Instead it was a man with a camera.
Published at
POCATELLO — A Pocatello man is behind bars after he allegedly tried to meet up with a teenage girl for sex. Instead, the suspect encountered a grown man who confronted him with a camera.
The video was posted on Facebook by Idaho Against Child Predators and had over 36,000 views as of Wednesday afternoon.
Desmund Shae Borzumowski, 26, was arrested Tuesday night by Pocatello Police for felony enticing a child over the internet. The man who recorded the video asked not to be identified for safety reasons so we’ll call him Joseph. He spoke with EastIdahoNews.com about how it all went down.
“It happened extremely quickly. I had just been talking with some of my friends that weekend and we were watching Chris Hansen videos,” Joseph tells EastIdahoNews.com.
Hansen was an NBC News personality who hosted the extremely popular ‘To Catch a Predator’ television show where he would confront men who showed up at homes looking to have sexual encounters with young women and men.
Hansen’s videos gave Joseph an idea. He downloaded Whisper, an app that allows users to post anonymously within a geographical area. He posed as a 13 to 14-year-old girl to see if there would be any responses.
“I had 15 to 20 people messaging me within minutes,” Joseph said. “Within an hour, there was a guy saying he wanted to meet up.” (Read the text messages below)
In the video, the alleged conversation between Joseph, acting as a teenage girl, and Borzumowski unfolded. Within a few short messages, Borzimowski allegedly asked, “So you down for some fun?”
Borzimowski then allegedly explains he wants to have “public fun,” meaning sex in a public area with the chance of getting caught.
Joseph says he had no plans to meet up with anyone but set up a meeting with Borzumowski at Upper City Creek Trail in Pocatello. He arrived and found Borzumowski sitting under a tree in some brush.
“I pulled out my camera and started recording the confrontation,” he said. “He didn’t even acknowledge me. He pretended to be on a phone call.”
With the messages, video, description and license plate Borzumowski’s truck, Joseph went to the Pocatello Police Department.
“The citizen was acting on his own accord, without the knowledge of or the assistance of any law enforcement agencies,” the Pocatello Police Department said in a statement to EastIdahoNews.com. “The citizen provided this information to dispatch and initially, it was felt no crime had been committed since the 13-year-old victim was fictitious and the citizen was acting without authorization from any law enforcement agency.”
Frustrated by the response, Joseph posted the video on Facebook Tuesday. A Pocatello Police officer saw the footage and called Joseph in around 9 p.m.
“The situation was reviewed further by members of the police department and a case was initiated,” the police statement says. “The suspect was positively identified, interviewed and admitted that he thought he was meeting up with a juvenile female to have sexual relations.”
Borzumowski was arrested and booked into the Bannock County Jail where bail has not been set.
“The Pocatello Police Department readily admits that this situation should have been handled differently and would like to apologize for the initial delay in investigating this incident. As always, we continue to strive to improve the services we provide to our citizens,” the police statement says.
Joseph acknowledges he placed himself at risk and while he does not plan to confront other alleged predators, he hopes to continue spreading awareness.
“It’s scary. You just have to make (kids) aware of the dangers out there,” he said. “I had no idea it was to this extent.”
Warning: The video in this Facebook post contains profanity
