A man arrested last year after being confronted by the nonprofit group Bikers Against Predators has been sentenced in Elkhart County for child solicitation.

Bikers Against Predators is a 501c3 Non-Profit organization that is acting against online child predators. Starting out in Northern Indiana, the group conducts sting operations to catch adults who try engaging in relationships with minors online. Bikers Against Predator has grown since its start in 2021, expanding its catches and traveling the country for busts across the US.  

According to court documents, after a plea agreement on a charge of child solicitation, Shawn Ensign, of Goshen, received three years on reporting probation.

The charges stem from an incident May 4, 2023. On the day of the incident, Goshen Police were contacted by Bikers Against Predators founder, Boots Hanson, who called to report that Ensign was planning to meet up with a decoy he had believed to be a 14-year-old girl at the Goshen Dunkin Donuts. 

In conversation between Hanson and Ensign posted in a BAP Facebook LIVE video of the sting, Ensign claimed to have drove over 40 minutes to meet a 14-year-old girl for coffee. Messages sent prior to the meet-up also detailed inappropriate intentions with the minor and included photos.

Officers were given messages exchanged between Ensign and the decoy. In those it was  affirmed that Ensign was fully aware of the teen's age. Despite Ensign's claims he did not remember the teen's age, he was subsequently arrested and charged with child solicitation, a Level 5 felony. After being booked at the Elkhart County Jail, Ensign would later bond out on a $10,000 bond.

It was soon discovered that Ensign had also been a sitting Hebron school board member. Ensign began a four-year term on the school board on January 1, 2021. He resigned immediately after his arrest.