Police warn vigilantes after group lures alleged child predator in Bucks County

Police in Bensalem Township are urging residents to rely on law enforcement rather than taking matters into their own hands, following an incident in which an internet-based vigilante group lured a suspected child predator to a local apartment complex, resulting in his arrest.

Late on Thursday, July 17, 2025, at approximately 9:10 p.m., Bensalem Township Police received a call from a member of “Predator Poachers,” a Houston-based online group that poses as minors to flush out alleged child predators. According to investigators, the group had spent the past eight months communicating via Instagram with Eric Rooney, 42, of Philadelphia, under the guise of a 13-year-old girl.

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