A man and a woman are facing charges after Wagoner County deputies say they exchanged sexually explicit messages with an undercover decoy posing as a 14-year-old child. Julie Y. Arnold and Joseph L. Hunt were booked into the Wagoner County Detention Center on charges of lewd or indecent proposals or acts to a child and facilitating sexual conduct with a minor, with bond set at $100,000 each.
According to newson6.com, the decoy told the suspects she was 14 years old at the start of the conversations, and investigators said neither Arnold nor Hunt raised any issue with her stated age. The two reportedly reached out to the decoy and went on to have explicit conversations about sexual acts they said they were interested in, per the same report. Deputies requested and executed a search warrant at a residence near South 209th East Avenue and East 51st Street in the Broken Arrow area, where both suspects were taken into custody without incident.
NewsOn6 reported that Arnold and Hunt were taken into custody on September 18, 2026, while KOKI FOX 23 identified October 18, 2026, as the operation date. Deputies seized multiple electronic devices and other digital evidence from the home for forensic examination, according to the same newson6.com report.
Sheriff Points to Ongoing Operation
Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliot said protecting children remains among the office's most important responsibilities and that it takes that duty seriously. Elliot said the office investigates and pursues available avenues to hold accountable those who engage in sexually explicit online conversations with someone they believe is a child. He added that the office will continue working with law enforcement partners to identify people seeking to exploit children and help keep Wagoner County safe for families.
The sting was carried out in partnership with Safe from Online Sex Abuse, a nonprofit that works with law enforcement to identify and investigate suspected online child sexual abuse and exploitation, the station's report notes. The Wagoner County Sheriff's Office said it remains committed to protecting children and investigating reports of online exploitation, and it is encouraging parents and guardians to talk with children about online safety and to report suspicious communications to law enforcement.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Arrests
This case is not an isolated effort. Since May, the Wagoner County Sheriff's Office has arrested eight people on child sex crime charges using an undercover decoy posing as a teenage girl, according to fox23.com. Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliott described the process to the outlet, saying, “We actually have an undercover operative here at the sheriff's office that is communicating with them. Then, [we] actually set up a meet and then we go out and we affect the arrest it.” The operation is made possible through the sheriff's office's partnership with the Department of Justice's Internet Crimes Against Children Division, per the same report.
Just days earlier, Wagoner County deputies arrested Samuel Sanning, who was accused of sending sexually explicit material to decoys posing as minors, according to okcfox.com. That case stemmed from a multi-day September operation in which investigators worked to identify and investigate individuals suspected of online child sexual abuse and exploitation. Sanning allegedly communicated with two decoys posing as a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl, making graphic statements and sending explicit photographs and videos, and was arrested on complaints of soliciting a minor for sex by use of technology along with two counts of lewd or indecent proposals to a child, the outlet reported.
The pattern extends beyond Wagoner County. A Del City man was reported arrested in July after allegedly sending inappropriate messages to a teenage girl and attempting to meet up with her, according to kfor.com. Statewide data underscores the scale of the problem: from January through August 2026, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent 8,621 CyberTips to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation's Internet Crimes Against Children unit, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
