OAKLAND COUNTY (WWJ) - A deputy with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office has been fired after he allegedly solicited sex from who he thought was a 15-year-old girl, officials said.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard confirmed a 33-year-old deputy with the Oakland County Jail was fired from the force while an investigation into wrongdoing in underway.
Bouchard said the former deputy was talking to someone online who was "presenting themselves as 15-years-old" and called the post "poor judgement."
The name of the deputy was not released, but WWJ's Charlie Langton reported the deputy is in "big trouble" and could face criminal charges.
"There is an investigation into whether or not the deputy was soliciting who he thought was a 15-year-old girl for sex," Langton said. "However, other reports indicate that the deputy was actually soliciting a man, not from law enforcement, posing as though as that 15-year-old girl and then that man posted the deputy's picture on social media."
The allegations come from Robert Lee, FOX 2 reported, a self-proclaimed vigilante who works to catch child predators by pretending to be a teenage girl online.
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He said he downloaded the Whisper app and had been posing as a 15-year-old girl for only a few months before he started catching dozens of alleged predators.
"I downloaded The Whisper app myself and I tried to catch somebody and somebody showed up, like that quick," Lee said via FOX 2.
Lee, posing as the girl, said he tells his correspondents that he is 15-years-old, but they continue to exchange messages with him.
"They keep saying they can get in trouble and they keep going through with it," he said. "And they still get caught."
Lee's fake profile allegedly caught the attention of the OCSO deputy, who he said began to have sexually explicit conversations with him even after Lee stated several times he was an underage teen.
"If they continue to talk after that, then they’re basically a predator," Lee said to FOX 2.
The 33-year-old allegedly sent a photo of himself to Lee and asked what Lee charged for sexual services as the conversation escalated.
Lee did not arrange to met the deputy, but instead posted their conversation on social media, as he has done with those he has previously caught.
"He stopped replying and then he tried to tell me someone else was using his picture and stuff," Lee said.
Lee told FOX 2 he isn't too surprised as "predators come in all forms."
"Police, regular people, rich people, poor people," he added.
According to the OSCO, the deputy has only been with the corrections division of the department for five months on the midnight shift and is still on his probationary period.
The OCSO said the allegations of wrongdoing are currently under investigation and have not released additional details about the case.