NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lieutenant Wayne P. McInnis
Email:
wmcinnis@kennerpd.com
Office: (504) 712-2234, Cell (504) 442-0375
Date: June 13, 2008
Sexual predator
arrested
KENNER –
On June
12, 2008 at approximately 2:30 P.M.,
William B. Mercier W/M, age 34, of 2783 Highway 51 SE, Bogue
Chitto, Mississippi,
was arrested for one (1) count of computer-aided solicitation
for sexual purposes, and one (1) count of pornography involving
juveniles.
The undercover operation
began in April 16, 2008, when a Kenner detective went into an
online chat room posing as a juvenile female from Kenner.
Mercier, who used the screen name “brad_mercier2000,” contacted
the detective.
From the onset,
Mercier knew he was chatting with a juvenile female.
During
the course of the chat, Mercier solicited to have sex with the
juvenile female. During phone conversations, Mercier masturbated
while on the phone. In addition, Mercier solicited the female to
send him nude photographs of herself.
On June 12, 2008, members of the
Mississippi Highway Patrol / Mississippi Bureau of
Investigations and Lincoln County Sherriff’s Office arrested
Mercier at his residence in Bogue Chitto, Mississippi.
Mercier is in custody at the Lincoln County
Jail awaiting extradition to Kenner.
If convicted,
Mercier
will be required to register as a sex offender and faces
imprisonment at hard labor for not less than two (2) years or
more than ten (10) years. With multiple charges, however the
sentence could be up to twenty-five (25) years
The investigation and arrest
were made possible by the utilization of equipment donated to
the Kenner Police Department by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, specifically for this type of investigation.
The Kenner Police Department
has been and will continue aggressively going after individuals
who use the Internet to sexually exploit juveniles from the city
of Kenner.
William Mercier
-KPD-
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