Sting Operation Nets Dumfries Man on Indecency Charges

Image: Donald E. Campbell Jr. (Manassas City Police Department).

A Dumfries man is behind bars after his arrest last week in a law enforcement sting operation.

Manassas police and other investigators arrested Donald E. Campbell Jr., of 3979 Cameron St., at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday after he responded to an undercover Craiglist ad looking for persons willing to travel to have sexual contact with juveniles, according to a police statement.

Campbell was charged with use of a communications device to facilitate certain offenses involving children, and attempted indecent liberties with a minor, the police said. He was being held without bond at the Prince William-Manassas Regional Jail and has a pending court date in the Prince William Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court.

The arrest was part of “Operation Broken Heart,” a month-long effort that involves local, state and federal authorities targeting sexual predators and traffickers, according to Manassas police.

Investigators identified Campbell, 50, as a suspect after he responded to an undercover investigator on Craigslist on the evening of March 30 about having sexual relations with a fictitious 12-year-old male at a motel in the city, Manassas police said. Campbell was taken into custody without incident in the parking lot of Burger King, 10034 Dumfries Road, where he had arranged to meet the other party.

Manassas police investigators made the arrest with assistance from the Northern Virginia-District of Columbia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigators as part of Operation Broken Heart.

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