Operation 17:2, a faith-based non-profit organization committed to catching child predators, aided the Perryville Police Department in the arrest of a suspected child predator in Perryville.
Bradley Terbrak, 30, of Perryville, was arrested on Monday, Oct. 26 after arriving at Casey’s to meet who he believed to be a 13 year old female for sexual relations. He was charged with enticement of a minor.
The Perryville Police Office confirmed Monday that Terbrak was arrested and is being held on a $20,000 cash only bond.
Police department spokesperson Sergeant Jeri Cain released a statement that read as follows:
“On Monday, October 26, 2026 Chief Dustin Miller was contacted by Garrett Gross of Operation 17:2 who explained their group had a ‘meet up’ scheduled with a male and their decoy whom the male believed to be a 13 year old girl.
Chief Miller put Gross in touch with the on-duty Sergeant who reviewed the content of the messages between the male, who was identified as Bradley Terbrak, and the decoy.
Officers coordinated with Gross and intervened once Terbrak had been identified and arrived at the agreed upon meeting location.
Chief Miller stated, ‘This department will always investigate and take action when appropriate in these types of cases.’
Terbrak was taken into custody and held for 24 hours where he was then charged with Enticement of a Child, and an Unclassified Felony. The warrant holds a $20,000 cash only bond.”
According to Garrett Gross, who runs the operation, a decoy on social media was used to build a case against Terbrak. Gross said decoys are adults who are edited to look younger, and are put on different social media and dating apps, where they wait for suspects to reach out to them first.
“This individual had reached out to our decoy, and she said she was 13 years old and he continued to proceed and engage in conversation until it got sexual,” Gross said. “From that point we’re building the case, anything with sexual intent is enough basis for an arrest. I don’t think he sent any explicit pictures. The rules are a little bit different in Illinois and Missouri, but he wanted to meet up, so we traveled from southern Illinois to Perryville. He was supposed to meet at Casey’s general store. He pulled in and kind of circled the area a little, pulled in and then pulled out and went to the next parking lot. That’s when we called the police.”
The name of the faith-based organization stems from the Bible verse Luke 17:2. Gross said he has worked with different organizations across the country for the past six years during his career as a professional fighter before founding Operation 17:2 this year.
The arrest of Trabek was the first in Perryville for Organization 17:2, who according to Gross, have helped aid in more than 30 arrests across Illinois, Missouri, and Florida since it began, including 7 in the span of 10 days in Cape Girardeau. Gross said he plans to expand the organization throughout the Midwest.
All of the messages received by decoys go into folders to be shown to local police departments and used to build cases against the suspects, representatives of the organization also appear in court to testify against the suspects.
Anyone wishing to donate to the non-profit or learn more about how they operate can visit op17two.com, Gross said positions are available for leadership, media, and decoy positions.
