Rolling Ridge resident and HOA Vice President, Mike Daniel, and dozens of his neighbors became frustrated and disconcerted Saturday, November 4th, over Murphy Police Department’s decision to allow and participate in a Perverted Justice/NBC Dateline sting operation in this Murphy neighborhood. It is believed the purpose of the sting was to arrest sexual predators lured to Murphy via on-line chat room invitations for possible sex, although the Murphy Police Department refused to comment on the situation.

Several neighbors approached Mr. Daniel early Saturday morning and requested the HOA investigate the bizarre happenings taking place at a home in the neighborhood, including strange wiring, additional and excessive lighting, an industrial-sized “cherry picker,” U-Haul truck backed up to the garage next door, strange decorations converted to attempt to conceal cameras, and unusual traffic patterns around the home.

Mr. Daniel had been taking pictures of the home, hastily wired with hidden cameras and excessive flood lighting, when a suspicious black Tahoe with dark tinted windows slowly approached the house. The driver and passenger of the vehicle confronted Mr. Daniel and initially refused to identify themselves. Mr. Daniel identified himself as a resident of the neighborhood. When pressed, the individuals in the car lied saying they were the owners of the home. This suspicious activity, along with other incidents in the neighborhood, were reported to the Murphy Police Department and summarily ignored, according to several Rolling Ridge homeowners.

As neighborhood children played outside, predators showed up at the Rolling Ridge  sting house. Several residents unfortunately were witnesses to arrests made in the front yard of the home. One predator somehow managed to avoid arrest all the way into Richardson when officers, some driving down Murphy Road in unmarked rental vehicles with nothing more than hazard lights flashing, finally caught up with the suspect near the intersection of South Murphy Road and Renner. Camera crews for the NBC’s Dateline were close behind the police chase.

Bob Terrel with Southerby Homes, who offices out the Rolling Ridge model home, said he was not contacted or consulted regarding the use of the sting home nor was he happy about the operation taking place in Murphy. 

Despite repeated assurances from the Murphy Police Department that residents “couldn’t be safer” and were being “well protected,” one family walking in the neighborhood discovered a discarded plastic bag of a substance that appeared to be cocaine. When turning the suspected drugs over to police, the concerned parents were told “one of the perps must have thrown it out.”

Things were busy at the Murphy Police station Saturday night as well. As suspects would arrive in the rear bay they appeared to be recorded (professional audio microphones were visible from the street) and then whisked into the Police and Courts Building. A towing service from Wylie hauled off at least two of the vehicles seen at the sting house.

Some of the concerns expressed by Rolling Ridge residents were:

“When people are looking to buy a home in Murphy, and they do research on this area, what will they see?  The crime statistics of “x” number of arrests of sexual predators! Who would move to a community with that kind of illegal activity?” 

“There are children outside playing just a few houses down from this (sting) house. What if one of these sexual predators brings a gun with him in case things go bad?  Nobody in Rolling Ridge was warned ahead of time about this invasive operation in our neighborhood.”

Mayor Bret Baldwin and Councilmember Eric Barna both stated they were not alerted to the sting operation in advance and that it was not discussed with council. Mayor Baldwin indicated that he learned about it on Saturday afternoon after receiving several calls from angry residents.  He noted that he confronted the City Manager about the situation and was told, "Anyone who interferes with the police investigation in any way will be arrested.” He said that "Anyone" was emphasized to include Murphy residents or the Mayor himself.

Mr. Daniel stated, “This isn’t about getting sexual predators off the streets of Murphy. To the contrary, we are inviting them to come and visit. This is about ratings for a television show and publicity for a small town police department. I’m disgusted, just disgusted.”

Another unhappy resident said, “These are not Murphy residents being arrested. They are perverts coming from other parts of Texas or another state to our neighborhood. This is not the activity and image we want for our families. Why is it appealing to our City Manager and Police Chief to have Murphy, Texas exposed on national T.V.?  What could they possibly be thinking?”

A Murphy Police Officer involved in the sting operation said a press release would be issued on Monday.