A sting operation snagged a Meta employee said to be responsible for creating “digital experiences for kids” for allegedly endangering the welfare of a child with graphic grooming.
Wednesday in Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood, 44-year-old Josh Felker, self-identified as an engineering manager for the Facebook parent company Meta, was approached by Mike Villani, otherwise known as Douglass King Jr. Not long thereafter, NYPD officers had him handcuffed and loaded in the back of a police vehicle after he allegedly admitted to Predator Poachers Long Island that he’d been sexting with an account he thought belonged to a 13-year-old girl.
Monday, PPLI premiered Villani’s encounter with Felker that lead to his arrest wherein the accused voluntarily sat with and discussed at length his background and his alleged online activities, supposedly prompted by a sexless marriage with his wife.
Joshua Felker, Managing Engineer for Meta – Now premiering on YOUTUBE! GO LIKE SHARE AND HYPE THE VIDEO https://t.co/xYco4FgDDC
— Predator Poachers Long Island (@PPLongIsland) July 20, 2026
Speaking with the New York Post, Villani detailed how the Meta employee was said to have reached out to PPLI’s “decoy account” in May and, shortly thereafter, allegedly began sending photos and videos sexually abusing himself while attempting to teach who he believed was a 13-year-old girl how to do the same.
During the exchange, Felker at one point departed, leaving a phone behind as collateral for the predator catcher, before returning. He was said to have voiced concerns about his family discovering he was cheating on his wife by grooming a minor, as his mother-in-law could happen upon them.
Upon his return, the pair headed off to a Starbucks where they continued to discuss the allegations before circling back to the area outside his apartment. It was there that Villani handed Felker a phone with a member of the group posing as the fictitious teen girl’s grandmother.
On the phone, the Meta employee apologized for his actions, talked about his Christian upbringing, offered a prayer and said, “It had happened once before with another girl, underaged.”
He also compared his alleged behavior toward young girls as seeking “any port in a storm.”
“Even though inappropriate things had already gone on, I almost, I just wish I could be her dad,” Felker went on to say he told the girl.
While still on the phone, Felker appeared incredulous first and then crestfallen as police officers approached and collected Villani’s records of the alleged communications. Briefly putting his head in his hand, he looked up to the predator catcher and said, “I’m gonna lose everything, aren’t I?”
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After being informed that there was no expectation of privacy in public, Felker was arrested and charged with disseminating indecent material to minors and endangering the welfare of a child before he pled not guilty at a Thursday arraignment. In the video, Villani informed the police that the binder was just some of the records he had available and that he would send the digital files to law enforcement.
Felker’s next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 9.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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