John Wesley Hunter

Budget Auto Parts was a contractor for the Polk County Sheriff's Office to fix it's cars. He was also a self-proclaimed "traveling cowboy."

Hunter arrived at the hotel used for the sting but could not find the room at first, eventually finding it and knocking. Police entered the hallway and pointed a gun at him for several seconds while he stared at them before issuing a command to lay on the ground. Hunter misinterpreted the command and sat on his butt in the middle of the hallway before being placed on his stomach by police. Hunter was taken to the police station and attempted to hide his face from the cameras. That is until Chris Hansen walked in the interview room with an entire camera crew. Hunter protested, saying that he "ain't doin no cameras."

Hunter, having some time to come up with a convincing story, explained that he was in the hotel to not meet anyone at all. He then admitted that he "wrote all kinds of stuff." Covering his face with both of his hands, similar to this scene from The Office , he explained that when he first saw the post he did not like it because he has six daughters himself who are all grown. Hunter, despite claiming that he was disgusted by the post, said he fed into it anyway. When asked why he fed into it if he knew it was wrong, Hunter replied, "To see how far it would go and if I could meet her" (referring to the mom, not the kid). He claimed to have only gone so that he could report the mother to police, what he called "detective work." He said that he did not report the mother to the police because he was afraid that they wouldn't believe him.

Hunter, thinking he found a legal loophole, stated "that thing right there is the same person, it's not [the daughter]. It's the saaaaame person, that's what I think." His claim was that he never believed that he was speaking to a fourteen-year-old girl because he was pretty sure that he was speaking to the mother pretending to be the daughter. Seemingly figuring out the situation as he explained it to Chris, Hunter claims that the mother was never pretending to be the daughter after all. That in fact it was a police officer pretending to be both. Chris, not understanding exactly what Hunter was saying, continued to press his story. Hunter claimed, "I told them 'pacifically'... that thank God... that y'all was the cops. Because I woulda been callin' the cops."

Hunter told Chris that he told the decoy he wouldn't show up. Chris then stated that hunter did, in fact, show up. Hilariously, Hunter stated that he only came because the decoy said that she was not a cop. He wouldn't have shown up if the mother had said that she was one because then there wouldn't have been a crime for him to report to police. He then claimed that "none of this is true." Hunter stated that he would not have gone into the room if it wasn't a sting operation. His proof of this was the fact that he stopped knocking on the hotel room door when the police and cameras arrived.

Slightly different than the charges listed in the Takedown episode, John Hunter was charged with:

Lewd Battery Transmitting Harmful Material to a Minor Use of a Two-Way Communication Device to Commit a Crime Soliciting a Guardian For Sex With a Minor Travelling to Meet a Minor For Sex After Using a Computer

Initially, he was committed to house arrest pending his case. In a plea deal, Hunter was convicted of Travelling to Meet a Minor For Sex After Using a Computer and Lewd Battery in exchange for the others being dropped. He was sentenced to 42 months in prison with 5 days of credit for time served and 84 months of probation. Upon his release, he will be required to register as a sex offender. He is scheduled to be released on February 10, 2027.