Updated: High-level Facebook staffer allegedly caught in amateur child sex sting operation
A live stream video posted on YouTube on Feb. 16 by "Predator Catchers Indianapolis" purports to show Meta/Facebook Manager of Community Development Jeren Andrew Miles, of Palm Springs, Calif., being caught in a child sex sting in Columbus, Ohio.
Miles, 35, allegedly communicated sexually explicit texts with a person who said they were a 13-year-old boy. He allegedly made plans for the boy to meet him at Le Meridien Columbus hotel, which is how and where the "Predator Catchers" group interviewed him.
Miles serves on the board of directors for LGBTQ+ group, Equality California. He has since completely deleted his social media accounts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Miles previously worked as the Director of Community Affairs for Lyft, according to an archive on LinkedIn.
Eric Schmutte, the man recording the live stream and one-half of "Predator Catchers Indianapolis," tells me he is sending all the chat logs and evidence to law enforcement in Columbus, Ohio and Palm Springs, Calif., where Miles purportedly lives.
Feb. 18 update: Other publications have now picked up on this story after my initial reporting. A Meta spokesperson has also confirmed to several outlets that Miles is no longer with the company. (He was fired or was forced to resign.) Ingrid Lunden, a reporter at Tech Crunch, reports that Meta's spokesman Drew Pusateri tried pressuring her into dropping the story. [Read: https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/18/meta-axes-head-of-global-community-development-after-he-appears-on-video-in-underage-sex-sting/ ].
Equality California is also retroactively scrubbing Miles from their organization. A 2019 event page for an award show attended by San Francisco mayor London Breed, gay celebrities and left-wing politicians has deleted Miles involvement. [See before and after: https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1494765020462395392 ]
The group that interrogated Miles sent me a statement: "We have sent over evidence to the police departments in Ohio and California. We hope they open up an investigation."
The two-hour long video of the original live stream can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDbMDy2e44w