Undercover Sex Sting Leads To Arrest

By Jessica Taloney Reporter

Investigators say a Mississippi man confessed to traveling to Baldwin County to have sex with a 13 year old girl. Undercover Sex Sting Leads To Arrest

Published: Wed, June 18, 2008 - 5:10 pm

Jessica Taloney

A Mississippi man is behind bars accused of crossing the state line to have sex with a 13 year old Daphne girl.
Mitchell Shane Hooks, 34, was arrested Saturday night by US Marshalls at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore at the Eastern Shore Center.
Investigators say Hooks, a former marine and father of a young son, is the first arrest by a multi-agency taskforce called "Project Safe Childhood."
"Unfortunately, the way things are looking, I'm afraid there are going to be a lot more," said Sgt. Leroy Smith of the Saraland Police Department, one of nearly a dozen agencies involved.
According to an affadaivat obtained by News Five, Hooks began talking with an undercover officer, who he thought was a teenage girl on June 11th. In the Internet messages, Hooks, using the screen name "SuperFreak2096", asked the officer for sex and arranged to meet the fake teen in Spanish Fort on June 14th.
"He thought he was traveling from Mississippi to have a sexual affair with a 13 year old," said Greg Bordenkircher of the US District's Attorney's office. "He talked to her, seduced her, didn't know that was not the case."
Officers of the Task Force and the US Marshall's office arrested Hooks at the bookstore around 8pm Saturday. According to the affidaivat, Hooks confessed and consented to a search of his vehicle. Investigators discovered a condom and two pairs of boxer briefs in his car.
Hooks is expected to make an initial appearance in US District Court Thursday morning.