In the wake of three suspected sexual predator arrests in Waterloo – two this month – the Columbia Police Department encountered a similar situation late Saturday night.

It was technically early Sunday morning when Benjamin R. Paulsen, 36, of Arnold, Mo., arrived at Taco Bell, 200 Columbia Centre Drive, expecting to meet a 14-year-old boy. 

With Paulsen waiting in the parking lot, he was met instead by Columbia Police Department officers.

Upon seeing the CPD vehicles, Paulsen fled the scene, ultimately being apprehended about 12:40 a.m. Dec. 21 along Route 3 at Palmer Road before being  arrested and transferred to the Monroe County Jail.

Paulsen was charged Monday with was charged in Monroe County Circuit Court with traveling to meet a minor, indecent soliciting (aggravated criminal sexual abuse), soliciting to meet a child and grooming.

During his arraignment Monday afternoon in Monroe County Circuit Court, Paulsen’s pretrial detention hearing was continued pending a mental health evaluation to be performed by Dr. Daniel Cuneo.

Monroe County Resident Judge Chris Hitzemann’s order followed statements by Paulsen’s counsel which signaled a legitimate question concerning his mental fitness to stand trial.

While the three other similar local cases also resulted in orders for a psychiatric exam, those were performed under the auspices of the Illinois Sex Offender Manager Board with the objective of determining a defendant’s threat to the community prior to a pretrial release hearing. 

For Paulsen, his fitness to stand trial will need to be established before the state board could be asked for its input.

The next hearing in the matter is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 20. 

As was the case with the suspected sex predator arrests at Moto Mart in Waterloo, the sting itself was organized through a cooperation between two social media groups: Online Predator Intervention and People v. Preds.

In this most recent case, the OPI representative was on scene to meet with CPD officers while the setup was the work of PvP.

OPI told the Republic-Times that initial contact with Paulsen was made using the Grindr app. 

Besides the location, the operation in Columbia didn’t go as what as the organizers experienced in Waterloo.

A short video posted to the OPI Facebook page Monday night shows Paulsen exiting the parking lot prior to being approached by officers. For a longer video of the incident posted on YouTube, click here.

During the three prior operations, the subjects were encountered without issue.

As OPI begins to record the encounter and approach Paulsen’s vehicle, a CPD officer can be heard saying “You’re not going over there, get over here.”

OPI stops walking, but does not return to the officer, saying “I’m standing right here” to indicate he did not plan to continue toward Paulsen’s vehicle.

The officer then instructs OPI to go toward the CPD vehicle, at which time Paulsen begins backing out of his parking spot. 

When OPI points out to officers that Paulsen is leaving, the officer replies, “That’s exactly why we don’t do it this way.”

While officers were able to apprehend Paulsen prior to his vehicle reaching I-255, the episode marks the first time an arrest occurred outside of the intended location.

Following a similar arrest earlier this month, several people posted uncertainty about the groups’ methods and continued activity in Monroe County on the OPI Facebook post showing a Dec. 12 arrest in Waterloo. 

OPI acknowledged the comments, noting the groups don’t stay in one location for too long in order to not overburden local law enforcement personnel and officials in the local judicial systems who handle prosecution and related matters.

Paulsen’s arrest is the fourth in Monroe County since the Oct. 25 arrest of Andrew Wagner in Waterloo, who also believed he was meeting a 14-year-boy through Grindr. 

Nickolas Thompson and Austyn Brown, both arrested in Waterloo on Dec. 3 and Dec. 12, respectively, each traveled to meet an OPI decoy they believed to be a 13-year-old girl, with contact first made through the “meetme” app before switching to cell phone text messaging conversations.