"Why don't you take a seat right over there?"
Those famous words were the catchphrase of none other than "To Catch a Predator" host Chris Hansen, the iconic face of Dateline NBC's reality TV series that featured hidden camera confrontations with would-be child molesters who arrived at a sting house with the intent to have sex with a minor. Hansen's commanding one-liner subdued the child predators into submission while police officers in camouflage were stationed outside the film set to arrest the (sometimes fleeing) culprits.
Years later with child predation plaguing the U.S. education system and other institutions that wield power over children, concerned citizens across America are rising up and carrying out vigilante-style justice of their own. They're taking neighborhood watch to the next level. These hometown heroes are contributing to the growing trend of citizen pedophile-catching videos by risking their safety to expose child predators lurking online to their neighborhood, their employer, and the world wide web at-large. Legal punishment is left up to police and local prosecutors, but the criminal behavior is nevertheless on blast and immortalized on the Internet.
Unlike the popular Hansen-headed television show, these self-deputized civilians don't have the glitz and glamor of a Hollywood production crew or formally work in concert with a law enforcement agency. While they're not impersonating a police officer (a crime itself) or beating up suspected child sex offenders, these little-known content creators are out on patrol and determined to protect their communities from the depraved evil-doers in the world that prey on children.
1. People v. Preds (California)
The pedo catcher behind this YouTube channel consistently uploads videos of "educational catch interviews" that spotlight how these sickos operate. To date, this one-man team has busted 203 child predators (and counting!).
This guy poses as a teenage decoy (about 13-years-old) on Grindr, a gay hook-up app, and sees who takes the bait. At the end of each YouTube video, he displays the redacted chat. He also brings the receipts to these hour-long busts and reads all the horrid details of the disgusting XXX-rated cringefest aloud to their mortified faces. Then he gives them the option to pick one of two phone calls: one made to a relative or friend who will hold them accountable, or he'll dial 911.
Some are ashamed. Others are just ashamed they got caught. He cuts through the BS and leaves zero room for the typical mental gymnastics from child predators who try to justify why they've invited a child to their hotel room. Whether it's public humiliation on national television or YouTube, it's satisfying to watch the realization dawn on these grown men in denial who finally concede on camera, "Well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions."
If the situation wasn't so alarming, it would be comical. The pedophiles are frequently caught red-handed holding a treat—like a soda pop—for the decoy, wearing whatever they described over text, a rookie move among veteran child predators. It's like projecting the Bat Signal, announcing, "I'll be the dunce in khaki pants holding the raspberry Slurpee at the third picnic table. Come find me!" Their pea-sized brains match the wit of Disney cartoon villains like Cruella de Vil's dog-snatching duo in "101 Dalmatians." Like caricatures out of a "stranger danger" skit, they'll ask if the decoy is a cop and then proceed with the meet-up anyways, thinking they've outsmarted the kid after the purported teen responds, "No lol."
Notable busts by the "People v. Preds" channel on YouTube:
- Sony Playstation executive George Cacioppo
- The senior vice president, who was busted wearing a PS5 t-shirt, was later fired.
- St. Luis Rios of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department
- The sergeant was placed on "administrative assignment" during the internal investigation.
- U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission chief data officer Russell Rappel-Schmid
- The high-level official's employment status was terminated following his late-night arrest.
This pedo hunter describes himself as a "professional Chris Hansen impersonator," but he's the real deal. When he's not staging an at-home sting operation with female and male decoys, Skeeter Jean is apprehending Happy Meals-toting child predators in store aisles. "Sir, this be your penis?" he'll ask a child-preying creep in public with the nude picture on-hand.
Other times, the business casual-clad Skeeter Jean appears at their place of employment. Acting as a 14-year-old boy on the Surge gay dating app, Skeeter Jean once lured a Carrabba's Italian Grill waiter, who sent the underage decoy account a naked photo, and then showed up at the child predator's work with printed screenshots of the inappropriate conversation. He then requested that Chris, the child predator, wait on his high-top table and put in an order for "predator pasta." In the November 2020 video, which gained over 1.5 million views, the YouTuber pulled out papers of the evidence neatly organized in a three-hole-punch binder for Chris the Carrabba's employee and his manager on duty to follow along.
Notable busts by Skeeter Jean's channel on YouTube:
- 26-year-old Ian Machir, who went by "Imdaddy" on the anonymous Whisper app
- After he lost his job for trying to meet with what he thought was a 14-year-old at a liquor store, Machir played the victim and accidentally snitched on himself to Michigan State Police by complaining like a Karen that he was ambushed by a "Chris Hansen wannabe." Machir was arrested, booked in county jail on $25,000 bond, and charged with accosting children for immoral purposes plus using a computer to commit a crime.
- Ice cream shop owner William Minney was ousted by Skeeter Jean at his own business
- Minney was charged with using a computer to commit a crime and accosting children for immoral purposes.
- Main Street Dairy, the shop where the encounter happened, now has a for sale sign and "pedo rapist" graffiti.
3. PCI: Predator Catchers Indianapolis (Indiana)
Predator Catchers Indianapolis, a branch of Predator Catchers, Inc (PCI), continues to add mugshots to their exhaustive predator list. They're recruiting volunteers, too, ages 18 and over. "Absolutely NO VIOLENCE," the job listing reads on the PCI website. Decoys and security detail with a valid license to carry are among the volunteer opportunities listed.
The anti-pedophile activists have schooled numerous teachers, including an elementary school educator and a third-grade teacher, turning the tables on authority figures in positions of power who have easy access to exploit children.
"After realizing that the justice system was not stepping up and doing what they should be doing to protect children from predators, it was obvious that the people must stand up to these problems...The justice system needs a wake up call. If they won’t protect the children, groups like us WILL!" the nonprofit organization's About Us webpage reads.
The group's YouTube channel has been removed by the Big Tech platform, which cited "multiple or severe violations of YouTube's policy prohibiting content designed to harass, bully or threaten," although PCI repeatedly instructs followers to not contact or harass family members and friends. "Please, please, PLEASE DO NOT HARASS FOLKS! We go LIVE and expose these folks for AWARENESS," the group wrote on Facebook. "We do not condone harassment in any way shape or form...Contacting family members will immediately get you banned from all pages within our organization...[D]eath threats are illegal and may be punishable in the court of law," a more recent Facebook advisory stipulates.
Notable busts by Predator Catchers Indianapolis's page on Facebook:
- Band teacher Brian Boyer, who invited a teen decoy to enter a back door where he works at Lebanon Senior High School
- "You ever find any of your HS teachers attractive?" Boyer asked the teenager, then posted "HS girls are so hot" and proposed "You know what would also be hot? You sneaking to my school and crawling under my desk."
- The school district placed the school staffer on administrative leave and then fired him.
- Within hours of the confrontation live streamed on Facebook, police announced Boyer's arrest.
- Boyer was sentenced to three-plus years on probation after pleading guilty to felony child solicitation.
- Meta's manager of community development Jeren Miles
- A spokesperson with Facebook's parent company confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that Miles is no longer employed with the company: "The seriousness of these allegations cannot be overstated."
Miles is an LGBTQ activist and served on the board of directors for Equality California, the nation's largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, according to reporting by investigative journalist Andy Ngo.
4. Protect The Innocent (Florida)
Far-left academics and LGBT activists alike are seeking to rebrand pedophilia as a sexual orientation and pedophiles as "minor-attracted persons" (MAPs) despite objections from mainstream gays who don't want to see pedophilic attraction normalized with society's acceptance. These do-it-yourself investigative journalists are on a mission to guard the innocent against perverted deviants hellbent on harming children and work to keep pedophilia viewed as the perversion it is. Protect The Innocent has stopped dozens of predators in Florida and saved countless children from their clutches.
The full chat logs are saved to Google Drive folders like this one from Telegram for transparency's sake as well as to educate parents about the dangers of social media, where predators can contact children to meet in-person. All of the evidence is handed over to law enforcement while investigations are underway. In the meantime, public shaming brings the case to the court of public opinion as a jury of the predator's peers can observe the encounter over and over again.
Supporters can become members as Protect The Innocent aims to inspire lawmakers nationwide to create harsher punishments for long-lasting change in America's criminal justice system. While apparel is coming soon to the merchandise store, Protect The Innocent-approved safety products are advertised as purchasable self-defense tools.
5. New Jersey Predator InterventionChild predators are everywhere, embedded in plain sight within our communities. This up-and-coming citizen detective group on the East Coast has few very videos on YouTube but they're already making a big splash in The Garden State.
A dean at a private high school was arrested after trying to meet with a decoy he thought was a teen for sex. Didier Jean-Baptiste, a dean of seniors at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, was charged earlier in October with second-degree attempted luring and third-degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child. The private Catholic preparatory school, which runs from grades K-12, said that immediate action was taken to fire Jean-Baptiste in a Twitter statement.
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