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A married Louisiana television anchor resigned after he was caught sexting a vigilante group posing as a 15-year-old girl.
Bill Lunn, 59, who served as the news director and top on-air personality at KTBS in Shreveport, arranged a meetup with the suspected underage girl at his home during lunchtime on May 29, but was instead met by amateur sleuths Antonio Coleman, Kameron Kennon and Katurio Grigsby, a group of self-proclaimed "predator hunters," KTAL reports. Lunn then called the police and claimed the men were there to beat him up and attempted to steal his car, however, the group waited and told the responding officers their side of the story, providing a trove of evidence to back their accusations.
“You could see the guilt in his eyes. He knew like, ‘Oh, I’m done,’” Coleman told the station.
The 'predator hunters' said they made a fake profile on the dating app Meet Me and posed as a 15-year-old girl for several weeks in an effort to "catfish" and bust local men who were attempting to meetup for sex. The trio said Lunn began engaging with the suspected teen on May 28, one night before he made arrangements to meet.
“They had a little conversation going on, and he asked how old she was. The girl told him she was 15 years old,” said Coleman, who claimed he was pretending to be the teenager, via KTAL.
“He was like sending pictures to her. He was saying like he wanted to do this to her,” he added. “Explicit things that I can’t say on camera.”
Coleman arrived at his home and quickly fled after the three men notified him of the sting operation.
“As Bill was running off, he yells, ‘I have a wife and kids,’” Grigsby said. “I’m sitting there as he’s running off, like in my head, ‘How can you say that when you literally walked yourself in the house expecting to meet an underage teenager?’”
Dhu Thompson, an attorney representing Lunn, said his client "vehemently denies" the allegations against him in a statement to the New York Post on Wednesday (June 5).
“It is our preliminary understanding that this incident was not the result of a law enforcement investigation, but rather one done by private individuals,” Thompson said. “Our primary concern at this time is that law enforcement receives all evidence surrounding this incident so that they can make a thorough and complete review. Mr. Lunn has cooperated with authorities and vehemently denies any allegations of wrongdoing.
“It is our hope that after a thorough review of all the evidence surrounding this matter that Mr. Lunn will be shown to be innocent and cleared of all allegations.”
Lunn was hired by KTSB in 2019 and promoted to news director in August 2023, according to his LinkedIn account. An internal investigation was immediately launched by the TV station upon learning of the incident outside his home last week.
“His resignation was effective immediately on Monday,” KTSB said in a statement obtained by the New York Post.
No charges have been filed in relation to the incident as of Wednesday.