41-year-old Keith Lee Merchant of Longview, Texas was recently sentenced to more than 30 years in federal prison for attempted enticement of a child. In 2018, Merchant took out a personal ad with the heading of “Taboo Family Fun – M4F 37 (Near You)”. While I couldn’t confirm it, this sounds suspiciously like a craigslist ad. To be fair, craigslist had removed its personals sections by this point, but that didn’t stop creepers from posting ads like this in the ‘missed connections’ section. But, I digress.
A federal agent responded to Merchant’s ad posing as a mother of a 10-year-old girl. Merchant was said to have responded to the federal agent within minutes of getting the message. Merchant then communicated with the federal agent on mobile messaging app Kik telling the agent that he had sex (child rape) with young girls before and wanted to have sex with the agent’s fictitious daughter. He also said that he wanted to bring the girl lingerie.
“got little miss a gift … I hope she likes purple.”
The way these miscreants talk is never not creepy.
Merchant arranged to meet the girl in Garland, Texas where he was arrested by federal agents and the Garland police. At the time of his arrest, Merchant was said to be in possession of an overnight bag, a pink stuffed animal, a box of candy, and purple lingerie. Where does someone like this even find lingerie for a 10-year-old girl?
Did I forget to mention that Merchant was a registered sex offender? In 2004, Merchant was convicted of indecency with a child sexual contact and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to eight years in prison at that time.
Again, it’s no surprise Merchant used Kik to communicate with the federal agent considering Kik is the virtual home to sex offenders, pedophiles, child porn collectors, and child traffickers.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 