Vigilante groups targeting and confronting alleged child predators raise legal challenges
PHOENIX - It's a social media trend: "vigilante groups" are going after alleged sexual predators on their own without law enforcement.
The latest instance in the Valley led to an arrest in Peoria, involving a 67-year-old man trying to meet up with who he believed was a 14-year-old boy.
The backstory:
These videos exposing child predators go viral.
The problem is how much of that evidence will hold up in court, not to mention the danger some of these groups are putting themselves in.
I sat down with some of these vigilantes and an undercover detective with Peoria’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit to find out more.
Vigilante group tracks down man for luring a minor
James Shewmake of Peoria is accused of sending sexually explicit material to a vigilante group out of New Mexico before he was reported to police and arrested.
Big picture view:
It’s become a trend: videos confronting and catching child predators to expose them for the world to see.
"Predator catches, getting pedophiles, people talking to underage people online, soliciting images... It's a really popular trend. I know since I've done it, a lot of eyes have been, you know, flown towards it," said one of the individuals in a video who has not been identified.
It’s a heavy caseload for Peoria’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit, with victims as young as 3 years old.
"The instant we gave our children a cellphone, we also gave him access to an outside world that's not in our house anymore. And that's the world these suspects are in," said an undercover detective with the Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit. "It's giving them kind of unlimited access to children right now."
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What they're saying:
"Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, any kind of social media you can find them on, pretty much. It's too easy to find them almost," the unidentified individual said.
The creator's most recent alleged sting led to an arrest, but the case was later dismissed by prosecutors.
"I’m doing a house catch. He’s got crazy messages. He’s 67 years old and he’s coming to meet a 14-year-old boy," they said.
Disturbing messages and explicit photos laid out in court documents state the man planned to have sex and film it, with someone he knew was 14 years old.
The vigilantes wait for the meetup with a decoy, then a large group confronts the suspect.
"It just pushes it into a heat of the moment situation where it's dangerous for all parties involved, whether it's the suspect or the vigilante group," said the undercover detective.
The other side:
The problem comes when detectives try to build the case. More interviews and evidence from a third party leaves detectives with even more questions.
"Do we have a complete picture? We just do a lot to try to pick up the pieces to make it a solid case versus getting us involved on the front side. All that work they're doing could potentially set that same predator free. If you know something's going on and somebody is interested in a child or wanting to meet because they think it's a child, get us involved rather than taking that on themselves," said the detective.
What's next:
This case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning they can resubmit it.
Law enforcement stresses when third parties are setting up these meetups, there is a lot more gray area, making it harder for Valley agencies to pursue the case.
We have seen this trend in Scottsdale and Surprise.
Agencies stress that these groups get them involved on the front end before confronting these individuals.