Predator catchers confront man who went to Novi hotel to meet 14-year-old girl, police say

Wayne Johnson taken into custody

Wayne Kenneth Johnson Jr. (Michigan Department of Corrections)

NOVI, Mich. – Predator catchers confronted a man outside a Novi hotel after he went there thinking he was going to meet up with a 14-year-old girl for sex, officials said.

Predator Catchers Inc., which is based on out of Indianapolis, recorded live video of a confrontation with Wayne Kenneth Johnson Jr., 52, of White Lake. The video also captured a conversation with police, in which the predator catchers claim Johnson had a conversation with one of their “decoys” on an app.

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More than 20 minutes into their Facebook Live conversation with Johnson outside a hotel at 3 a.m. Sunday (Jan. 9), Novi police showed up. Officers took Johnson into custody.

Johnson is charged with accosting children for immoral purposes and using a computer to commit a crime. He is scheduled to return to 52-1 District Court in Novi at 9 a.m. Jan. 19.

He was charged for child sexually abusive material in 2015 and released from the Michigan Department of Corrections in November 2020, records show.