POCATELLO — An incident reminiscent of Dateline NBC’s hit reality show of the early 2000s, “To Catch a Predator,” unfolded in the Gate City this week resulting in one local man’s arrest.

Desmund Shea Borzymowski, 26, of Pocatello, was arrested late Tuesday night and charged with enticing a child through the use of the internet, a felony, after a Pocatello man, inspired by the show Chris Hansen hosted on NBC for several years, posed as a 13-year-old girl online and staged a meeting with Borzymowski to allegedly engage in sexual intercourse, according to the Pocatello Police Department.

The Idaho State Journal on Wednesday interviewed the 21-year-old Pocatello man who posed as the 13-year-old girl online on Sunday afternoon. Hours later, that man confronted Borzymowski near the parking lot area of Upper City Creek.

The man recorded the encounter using his cellphone and posted the video to a Facebook page he recently created, Idaho Against Child Predators. He requested anonymity due to his fear of retribution and the dangers involved with operating his page.

“I was actually watching Chris Hansen videos with my friends over the weekend and came up with this idea to see if there were any child sex predators in our area,” the 21-year-old man, who also organized the Facebook page, said. “Around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, I made one post on this application called Whisper posing as a 13-year-old girl and within minutes I had 15 to 20 people who had messaged me. Within an hour of making that post there was a guy who wanted to meet up.”

According to Webwise, Whisper is an anonymous social networking app that involves users posting confessions or statements, either fact or fiction, by superimposing text on a picture.

“Whisper’s unique selling point is that it is completely anonymous, with users issued a random nickname upon joining,” Webwise says. “The fact that Whisper has its own gallery of photos and fonts to choose from again helps protect the anonymity of users.”

The primary way of communicating with someone on Whisper is by responding to their posts, called whispers. This can be done by sending your own whisper or through a chat function.

The Idaho Against Child Predators Facebook page organizer said that after creating an initial whisper that said, “I’m so excited to be in high school and see all the cute older guys next year!!!,” he began communicating with Borzymowski via the chat function.

That’s where their conversation turned sexual.

Despite the Facebook page organizer stating several times that the girl he was posing as was a minor child, Borzymowski was persistent in setting up a meeting where the two would engage in sexual intercourse, according to screenshots of the conversation provided to the Journal Wednesday.

A few hours later on Sunday, The Facebook page organizer drove up to the Upper City Creek area in search of Borzymowski, but initially could not locate him.

“He said he was going to be driving a black truck so when I get there I see there was nobody in it,” the Facebook page organizer said. “I figured he was scouting the area from the tree line or something so I started walking up the trail and found this large bush right off the trail and decided I was going to hide in it to see if he would book it back to the truck and he was literally hiding in that same bush. That’s when I pulled out my camera and recorded the confrontation.”

Pocatello police told the Journal in an email Wednesday that a citizen, who the Facebook page organizer confirmed was himself, arrived at the Pocatello Police Department lobby to report the incident around 6:40 p.m. Sunday.

“The citizen had posed as a 13-year-old female on a social media platform with the intention of entrapping child predators,” the email read. “The citizen was acting on his own accord, without the knowledge of or the assistance of any law enforcement agencies. The citizen said he had made arrangements to meet an individual in Pocatello to have sexual relations. The citizen met with and confronted the male, (later identified as Borzymowski). That encounter was captured on video by the citizen. After a brief verbal exchange, the meeting was ended.”

Initially, dispatch told the Facebook page organizer that 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, Pocatello police said.

Moreover, the Facebook page organizer said that police refused to take any of the evidence he had collected regarding the incident. Their refusal bothered him so much that he went home, compiled the text exchange and cellphone video of the confrontation with Borzymowski into a single video and on Tuesday afternoon posted it to the newly created Idaho Against Child Predators page. As of Wednesday evening, the video had surpassed 1,000 shares and had hundreds of comments and reactions.

“I had no intention of posting the video online but I was super frustrated after my experience at the police station,” the Facebook page organizer said. “So I created the page and posted the video. Immediately, it blew up like crazy and a corporal reached out to me later that night.

The Pocatello Police Department in its Wednesday email to the Journal said, “The situation was reviewed further by members of the police department and a case was initiated. Cpl. Lacey contacted the (Facebook page organizer) and gathered further information. (Borzymowski) was positively identified, interviewed and admitted that he thought he was meeting up with a juvenile female to have sexual relations. Based on that admission, Cpl. Lacey placed him under arrest for enticing a child with the use of the internet or a communication device.”

Additionally, the Pocatello Police Department said that it “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 Facebook page organizer said he understands that what he did, although completely legal, was quite dangerous. He said he’s unsure if he will attempt to entrap other predators in the future but will continue operating the Facebook page to serve as a deterrent for others who think they can escape punishment for attempting to have sex with children.

“I want to continue raising awareness about the fact that there are online predators in our area and to encourage parents to educate their children of the dangers of talking with people they do not know on the internet,” the Facebook page organizer said.

The Pocatello Police Department said it does not recommend private citizens take this type of action, as the situation can quite easily turn violent and place well intentioned people into extreme danger, along with anyone else in the area.

Details about Borzymowski’s upcoming court appearances were not available Wednesday because Bannock County prosecutors filed a motion to seal his criminal case via judicial order, which was granted Wednesday afternoon.

If convicted of the felony enticing a minor using the internet charge, Borzymowski faces up to 15 years in prison.