Doral police say man went to meet teen. 2 adults and a camera were there instead

Two private citizens ran their own undercover sex sting, posing as a 15-year-old boy and luring a man to a BJ’s Restaurant and Brewery for an on-camera confrontation, according to Doral police.

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A civilian, who was not acting at the direction of law enforcement, posed as a 15-year-old boy on the dating app Grindr, the Doral Police Department said in an arrest affidavit. The man pretending to be a teen was then contacted by 34-year-old Juan Leonel Jimenez Silva, according to police.

They moved their conversation over to WhatsApp, where the conversation turned sexual on the evening of Oct. 1, police said. The decoy messaged, “I’m 15. Is that cool? Pls don’t get mad.” Jimenez Silva allegedly responded with explicit material depicting sex positions he wished to try with the purported teen.

Jimenez Silva and the man posing as a teenager agreed to meet in person at a BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse at 1401 NW 107th Ave., police said.

He “arrived at the restaurant believing he was meeting with the juvenile, instead, he encountered two private adult citizens, one of whom was acting as a videographer and the other who was posing as the juvenile male,” police said.

The cameraman and the decoy approached him inside BJ’s and started questioning him about meeting a minor for sex, according to police. When Jimenez Silva realized he’d been chatting with an adult the entire time, he ran out of the restaurant and across the parking lot to his car.

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The next day, the two men went to the Doral Police Department to provide written sworn statements, identify Jimenez Silva out of a photographic lineup, and provide screenshots of the chat with him and a recording of the in-person confrontation, police said.

It’s unclear why the men orchestrated an undercover sting without law enforcement, or if they had any connection to Jimenez Silva prior to this incident. A Doral police spokesperson didn’t respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

Jimenez Silva was arrested at his Miami-Dade home Monday night and taken to the Doral Police Department station for an interview, the affidavit said. Police say he provided a “full confession,” telling officers that he was told he was talking to a minor toward the beginning of their conversations.

He is facing charges including electronically transmitting material harmful to a minor and using a computer to solicit or lure a child to engage in sexual conduct, records show. Jimenez Silva was being held on a $20,000 bond at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and doesn’t have an attorney listed yet.

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