Who is James Wessley Rankin? Californian convicted sex offender busted in undercover operation
SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA: James Wessley Rankin, a convicted sex offender has been arrested by authorities on multiple counts under state and federal law on Friday, January 13, in an undercover operation. As per records, the man who used the screen name ‘Lonely Nerd’, tried to ‘seduce’ an undercover detective he assumed to be a young teen girl. He was taken into custody from California. Rankin allegedly sent her obscene photographs and arranged a meet-up with the purported teen in person.
During the investigation, it was found that Rankin is a Tier III sex offender as per the Missouri State Sex Offender Registry, which means the most severe category. In this scenario, the individual has to register as an offender for the rest of his life and must show up before a chief law enforcement officer in person every 90 days. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department (SBSD), released a press statement, according to which the team started working on the Rankin case in January 2023, and the department’s Specialized Investigations Division Crimes Against Children Detail and the Los Angeles Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), also joined in them in this sting operation.
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The officials revealed that during the operation, which was targeted against child predators, Rankin reached out to an online post on an anonymous chat website purportedly written by a 14-year-old girl. The California investigators allege that Rankin then “struck up a conversation” with the undercover detective who was pretending to be that teenage girl. As per authorities, the accused “sent obscene material and began making plans to pick the teen up from her home,” during their online exchange.
Once the detectives established the origin of the messages Rankin was sending as Missouri, the team immediately alerted the FBI’s Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking Taskforce about the operation. After that, the Federal Bureau of Investigation joined the operation and assisted it. According to records, Rankin was found guilty in March 2021 on one count of first-degree statuary rape of a person under the age of 14 and was slapped with five years behind the bars. In another past felony, the Christian County Circuit Court convicted him of endangering the welfare of a child and domestic assault in 2019 and sentenced him to probation and shock incarceration time, as per the Department of Justice records, reports Law&Crime.
In his latest arrest, Rankin is facing one count each of sending harmful matters to seduce a minor, online enticement and arranging to meet a minor to commit a sex crime under state court. However, under Federal jurisdiction, he is booked with one count of transferring obscene material to a minor.