Oklahoma City – Miss America can add crime fighter to her résumé.
Lauren Nelson recently went undercover with police in New York for a sting targeting sexual predators.
Officers with 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 got to chat online with the predators and made phone calls, too,” Nelson said by phone from Atlantic City, N.J. “The Suffolk County Police Department was there the whole time.”
The operation was filmed for a segment of “America’s Most Wanted” that will air Saturday on Fox. Police spokesman Tim Motz said the operation was ongoing and declined to comment Tuesday evening.
At least four men were arrested and face charges, said Avery Mann, a spokesman for the show. Another six men agreed to meet Nelson, of Lawton, Okla., he said.
Nelson, 20, posed as a young teen online and went into chat rooms, where she said men would begin sending her instant messages asking her how old she was and where she lived.
“I would say, ‘I’m a 14-year-old female from Long Island.’ Sometimes they would say, ‘You’re too young, sorry,’ which is exactly what needs to happen, but some would continue chatting,” she said. “It would only take a matter of time before it got pretty explicit.”
Nelson then arranged to meet the men at a home in Long Island, where police and camera crews were waiting.
Nelson, whose top issue is Internet safety for children, said she was eager to participate. “As many as we caught on that day, there are a lot more out there.”
