Meta Manager Who Built 'Digital Experiences for Kids' Is Charged After Trying to 'Sext' a 13-Year-Old

A Meta engineering manager whose own profile boasted of building digital experiences for children now faces criminal charges over explicit messages he allegedly sent to someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl.

Josh Felker, 44, was arrested in Manhattan and charged with disseminating indecent material to minors and endangering the welfare of a child, after a confrontation staged by a private group that hunts suspected online predators.

The case has drawn outsized attention because of where he worked: a since-deleted LinkedIn profile described him as an engineering manager at the Facebook and Instagram parent company, developing digital products for young users.

An Arrest That Followed a Vigilante Confrontation

The circumstances of Felker's arrest matter to how the case is read. He was confronted on Wednesday outside his Murray Hill apartment by Predator Poachers Long Island, a private group that stages encounters with people it suspects of seeking to exploit minors, before NYPD officers arrested him nearby. This was not a law-enforcement sting, a distinction that has drawn scrutiny to such operations even when charges follow.

According to the group's account given, Felker first contacted its decoy account in May and continued communicating over the following weeks, believing he was speaking with a 13-year-old girl. The group's founder told the paper that Felker allegedly sent explicit material during those exchanges, claims that form part of the evidence but remain unproven allegations.

Critics of predator-hunting groups argue their methods can complicate prosecutions and raise due-process concerns, while supporters say they surface offenders who might otherwise escape notice.

Prosecutors in Felker's case do not have to show that any physical harm occurred for the child-endangerment charge to apply, a feature of New York law that has allowed such cases to proceed even where the 'victim' was an adult decoy.

A Job Title That Turned a Local Arrest Into National News

What propelled the story far beyond a single Manhattan arraignment was Felker's employer and role. His LinkedIn profile, taken down after his arrest, identified him as a Meta engineering manager focused on creating 'digital experiences' for children and young users, an overlap between the accusation and the job that critics of the company seized upon immediately.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has faced years of litigation and congressional scrutiny over child safety on its platforms, including a wave of state lawsuits alleging its products harm young users. A staff member charged in a case like this, however individual the conduct alleged, lands directly on that raw nerve. The company has said Felker is on leave, and otherwise declined to comment.

The arrest also fits a broader pattern of professionals in positions of trust facing similar allegations. Only months earlier, a New York police officer who supervised a youth outreach programme was charged in two boroughs after allegedly exchanging explicit messages with an undercover investigator posing as a 14-year-old, a reminder that proximity to children in a job title has become a recurring and uncomfortable feature of such prosecutions.

The specifics attributed to the group are disturbing, and are reported here only in general terms. Speaking to the New York Post, the group's founder said Felker allegedly sent sexually explicit photographs and videos and, at one point during the confrontation, expressed fear that his family might discover his conduct. Those descriptions come from the group and the outlet that interviewed it, not from prosecutors, and Felker has admitted no wrongdoing in court.

Charges, A Not-Guilty Plea And A September Court Date

Felker was formally charged with disseminating indecent material to minors and endangering the welfare of a child. At his arraignment on Thursday he entered a plea of not guilty, and he is scheduled to return to court on 9 September, according to the New York Post's reporting on the proceedings.

The two charges are serious but fall short of the most severe child-exploitation offences, and their ultimate weight will depend on evidence yet to be tested, including the authenticity and content of the chat logs the group says it compiled. Under New York law, disseminating indecent material to a minor turns on the intent and content of the communications rather than any completed physical act.

For now, Felker is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and the case will proceed through the courts rather than the group's cameras. The video of the confrontation, which the group signalled it would publish, is likely to shape public perception long before a jury hears anything, a dynamic that sits at the heart of the debate over private sting operations.

A man paid to design the internet for children now stands accused of exploiting it against them, and a Manhattan courtroom, not a livestream, will decide whether the accusation holds.