Gulfport man to serve 10 years for trying to lure child into having sex

A Gulfport man will spend 10 years in prison for trying to lure a child for sexual purposes.

36-year-old Justin Cripps was sentenced to 30 years, with 20 suspended, by Judge Chris Schmidt. He will serve the sentence without chance of early release and must register as a sex offender and complete five years of probation once released from prison.

He pleaded guilty on Oct. 7, 2024.

The investigation began in January 2022 after a group called Predator Poachers, confronted Cripps at his home about sexually explicit messages sent to a decoy posing as a 9-year-old girl.

The founder of the group made a report to Gulfport Police, who opened an investigation, which showed that between November 2021 and January 2022, Cripps sent several sexually explicit messages, pictures and videos to what he thought was a 9-year-old girl. When confronted, Cripps initially said his account had been hacked.

A search warrant revealed a hidden cell phone with records showing Cripps’ account had not been hacked and he had encouraged the person posing as a child to meet him in person.

During sentencing, Schmidt said the messages lacked an “element of humanity” and that Cripps was “just a few key strokes away from getting what he truly wanted.”