"Child Predator"?

Question

I recently heard of this fellow that shot himself. Cops were at his front door trying to arrest him for being a "Child Predator". Apparently, the cops had posed in a chat room as an under age kid and then busted the guy when he tried to solicit sex....

Question -

How can a cop do that? Where is the victim? How can you have a crime where someone is supposed to be victimized, but have no victim? Who is to say that this guy didn't THINK he was talking to cops or that he would have acted on this conversation???

I just think it is weird....

Answer 1

I doubt that he thought he was talking to cops or he would not have invited them to his address but i absolutely agree that it looks like the police find it easier to find a crime that they initiated rather than one which was really happening.

I suppose entrapment keeps the crimebusting statistics looking better but it is a poor way to do it, to create crimes and criminals as an easlier option than finding real ones who decided for themselves to commit a crime.

Answer 2

Dateline has done a lot of coverage on child predators and with the help on a company that helps them have been able to arrest a lot of people on the attempt. If they show up, they are busted and they are busted because of the conversation that that person had and because they showed up to the house. If these people are able to say nasty things to a teenager over the internet, you dont know what they can really do. Watch those documentaries, they are very interesting.

Answer 3

Police can do that under the same basis as drug buy stings and other similar actions. Intent to commit certain crimes is as illegal as committing them.

He showed up to meet the "child," so if he had a valid, non-predatory reason to meet this unknown strange child, why didn't he defend himself? If he thought he was talking to the cops, as a prosecutor he would have known better.

The suicide is a tragedy, but I can't imagine the guy thought he was innocent, but rather was overcome with guilt and shame.

Answer 4

I think I live in the area you are talking about. Just last night on the local news(DFW) I saw a story about how I think it was ABC set up a sting to catch child predators. The guy you are referring to was an ex local councilman. ABC has done this more than once with help from law enforcement. They have taken more than a few perverts away.

Answer 5

Although I appreciate the question you are posing and agree in principle most of the time, when dealing with predators I say anything goes to get them off the street. If they are a danger to children, we should do whatever we have to do to cage them. They are sick and twisted people who, from what I have seen, cannot be rehabilitated or cured. They need to be hunted down, jailed, and the key thrown away.
If the guy you reference above was caught trying to make dates with underage kids, he got what he deserved.

Answer 6

In order to address this, the laws have been re-written to say that if you THINK you are soliciting a minor, then that's the same as soliciting an actual minor. Otherwise, there'd be no way to put these people behind bars that NEED to be behind bars.

Answer 7

intent. they now have probably cause to search his home and retain custody. most predators never have only one victim. soliciting sex...is not the same as actually having sex....there was a proposal of it in a conversation. that's why there is a whole different law for it.

Answer 8

My found son is just that - my son. Not my birthson.... I would think he would feel insulted if I introduced him as such. Just as adding the prefix birth to mother or father objectifies them - it does the same but more so, to a human being who was adopted to be referred to as a birth child. I don't get it why some people have a problem with the reality that an adopted person has two mothers, two fathers and he or she is merely a son or daughter to both.

Answer 9

Personally, the fact that he shot himself indicates to me he had little hope of being exonerated. If it really had been an entrapment situation, and he'd never done anything to hurt a real child, he would not have been so frightened. He would have been angry, and calling for his lawyer, not frightened and killing himself.

Answer 10

I could not have said it any better then diana1b & auntb93. The dateline episodes are very informative and i say do what has to be done to save the children .... people like that have NO business near our kids.