{"id":335398,"date":"2026-03-18T08:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T08:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/335398\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T08:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T08:08:09","slug":"police-investigating-after-waikato-man-allegedly-caught-grooming-underage-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/335398\/","title":{"rendered":"Police investigating after Waikato man allegedly caught grooming underage girl"},"content":{"rendered":"

The investigator also criticised New Zealand Police<\/a> in the video for not arresting the man that day. <\/p>\n

In the online video, the Waikato man appears to admit using chat rooms,<\/a> wanting \u201csexy\u201d photos from the girl, and at one stage says he\u2019s only wearing a singlet and is touching himself. Children can be heard in the distance, but when asked by the \u201cgirl\u201d if someone is there, he says the television is on.<\/p>\n

When confronted by the investigator at his workplace, the man spoke at length and said his actions were \u201cstupid\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, when the Herald visited him at his home today he declined to make any comment.<\/p>\n

His employer told NZME he is no longer working there.<\/p>\n

Police have confirmed they are aware of the case and are investigating. <\/p>\n

\u2018Pity u not here to join me\u2019<\/p>\n

According to the investigator, the man was initially found in an online chat room where he initiated the conversation with someone he thought was a teenage girl. <\/p>\n

He was asked how old he was by the investigator, and he replied he was in his 40s. <\/p>\n

The investigator replied and said their age was 13.<\/p>\n

The man is alleged to have responded, \u201cyea nice\u201d, before following up with \u201cpity u not here to join me\u201d. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s then asked what he did for fun, and he said \u201csurf and s3x\u201d. <\/p>\n

There was also a chat about cuddling naked and he\u2019s alleged to have mentioned that if they lived closer, they could have dated. <\/p>\n

The pair then moved their chat to the app Discord, where the man allegedly sent photos and a video. <\/p>\n

The pair also engaged in a video call, excerpts of which were shown in the online video. <\/p>\n

When approached by the investigator at a workplace where he was a subcontractor, the man acknowledged asking the girl for \u201csexy\u201d photos but said he was \u201cjust being stupid\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said he normally chats with friends on there but promised to stop using it. <\/p>\n

Asked if he was naked around his home, the man said if he was, it was only because he\u2019d just had a shower after work.<\/p>\n

The investigator asked him about having children at home and the man denied being inappropriate around them. <\/p>\n

Later in the video, when confronted at his home, the man\u2019s wife is also captured on camera because the investigator wanted her to be aware of her husband\u2019s alleged behaviour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s important to know that the kids are safe, and that you are aware,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Waikato man was confronted by the investigator, who then posted a video on social media this week. It has since been removed. <\/p>\n

The wife chuckles and responds that her husband was \u201cgoing to get kicked up the a*** in bed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The investigator told his online audience he was frustrated because he called police on the day he confronted the man and waited for them at the site for four hours, but they never turned up. <\/p>\n

Police did not address questions from NZME about why officers did not attend that day but did confirm they were aware of the case.<\/p>\n

\u2018This information is being assessed\u2019<\/p>\n

Hamilton City Area Commander Inspector Andrea McBeth confirmed police received a report this month of a person who was allegedly having indecent conversations with a young person online.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice are also aware of the video that has been published in connection to this matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice have since received information relating to the matter, are reviewing, and investigating that information.\u201d<\/p>\n

McBeth said police were aware that other people had been referred to in the online video.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of several individuals mentioned in this video who may be impacted or connected through the allegations raised,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe safety and welfare of those individuals is a primary concern for us, and we are working with our partners to ensure this.\u201d<\/p>\n

McBeth said they don\u2019t encourage the public to take matters into their own hands or confront individuals themselves. <\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, if anyone may be concerned regarding suspicious behaviour, they are asked to contact us.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also reminded the public that posting about an individual online, or sending digital communications about an individual to any person, may be committing an offence under the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015.<\/p>\n

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The investigator also criticised New Zealand Police in the video for not arresting the man that day. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51973,74,7818,9525,6868,48958,305,16133,17709,12898,1743,5158,111,43,139,69,254,675,3466,13506,416,1524],"class_list":["post-335398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-13yearold","tag-after","tag-allegedly","tag-caught","tag-girl","tag-grooming","tag-have","tag-inappropriate","tag-investigating","tag-investigation","tag-launched","tag-man","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-photos","tag-police","tag-sending","tag-underage","tag-video","tag-waikato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}