According to a report by Byron Harris of WFAA-TV, prosecutors will not be bringing charges against the 24 men caught in the Dateline NBC-Perverted-Justice.com sex sting.
Why is this not surprising? In the article Attorney John Roach says, “Perverted Justice’s involvement creates more difficulties.”
In one of the reports, Bryon Harris says, ” Uncut video from the sex stings led to more questions about who actually ran the stings.”
In Illinois, Marsha Bartel a former associate producer for Dateline says she was fired after complaining that the NBC’s show To Catch a Predator violated “numerous journalistic ethical standards.” Now she’s seeking at least $1 million in damages from the network.
In a Jun 28th article by Grant Slater – Associated Press Writer, Mayor Bret Baldwin is reported saying, “Certainly these people should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but the fact that this was all done for television cameras raises some questions.”
This comes as no shock to me. Perverted Justice methods have long been questioned by law enforcement, Attorneys, and real life cyber crime fighters like Julie Posey who organized a movement of working with the police to investigate and prosecute child molesters when she learned her own teenage daughter was approached by a pedophile in an internet chat room.
The group also has critiques like that of Scott Morrow who createds Corrupted-Justice.com, a web site dedicated to exposing the truth about Perverted-Justice.com and Peter J. Carr publisher of Chatmag.com who says, “Perverted-Justice.com is an out of control vigilante organization.”
In recent Chatmag news: Perverted-Justice.com founder has fired back at the district attorney.
“Phillip Eide, aka Xavier Von Erck, has launched into a ranting tirade against the Prosecutor in the Murphy, Tx. Dateline NBC “To Catch A Predator” sting operation.”
Dateline NBC paid Phillip Eide, aka Xavier Von Erck over $100000.00 for participation in the “To Catch A Predator” series that some people are calling a reality tv show that was watched by millions.
Some are even saying that the recent sting which resulted in the suicide of Louis Conradt may of been saved from an earlier sting operation, in hopes of being shown on Dateline NBC. In an article by Leonard Doyle, Congradt sister Patricia says, “It was an act precipitated by the rush to grab headlines where there was no evidence that there was any emergency other than to line the pockets of an out-of-control group and a TV show pressed for ratings and a deadline.”
Tresa Baldas of ‘The National Law Journal‘ talks about how the the NBC television series “To Catch a Predator,” may be popular with viewers, but not with criminal defense attorneys, who claim the show raises a range of civil rights issues.
Are Perverted justice to be seen as super heroes or an out of control vigilante organization that is harming legitimate law enforcement efforts to stop online predators. You decide!
Source: Murphy sex sting cases may not reach court
Texas town roiled by NBC sting
Dateline NBC Suicide Sting May Have Been Saved for Dateline’s Cameras.
Reality TV goes one step further as judge turns gun on himself
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8 responses so far ↓
Wrote: Jul 10, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Brilliant blog as usual, wonderful lady! It is a wonder why so many think of these people as “heroes”. If these are heroes, we are headed in a downward spiral of hate, gullibility, ignorance, uncompassionateness and stupidity.
Wrote: Jul 10, 2007 at 10:01 pm
It looks like Eide’s defamation site has been destroyed by a DDOS attack. Whittaker was fired after his boss found the site hosted on his machine attracted the denial of service attacks that affected more than just the site it was after. It may not be long before the same goes for PJ, Hosting services are just now changing policy to prohibit sites like PJ that are very likely to attract problems.
Wrote: Jul 10, 2007 at 11:52 pm
CJ I was just reading an article that said “Because people who had no training in police procedure ran this operation, all of the evidence and accusations were thrown out.” That is why I have been saying all along that civil groups like this should not be pedophile hunting. If anyone in the sting was a pedophile, they are now walking free because of Perverted Justice.
Wrote: Jul 14, 2007 at 12:03 pm
While I do ot have any problem with keeping the sex minded pedophiles off the streets there is obviously a limit as to how this may be done legally. On every show the basic premise is laid out that such discourse between an adult and a minor is illegal…very true, however in order to have the crime, the elements must be present.No matter how much perverted justice documents the age and such of the conversant on their end, it is simply a fiction. None of the people involved on either end are really minors. Because of this there is very obviously a central element to the crime missing….THE MINOR. As for the encounters, there is also no minor present.The “VICTIM” is an of age member of the cast and crew. In summation, while I agree with the concept of keeping predators off the street and away from our children, I must question the way in which this is being done. The end does not always justify the means. If we are to accomplish this end, let’s do it by the correct means. Perverted justice is unfortunately just as its name suggests, an absolute perversion of justice and an abuse of the legal system. Since there is absolutely no harm coming to the “CHILDREN” online, at least create the actual element of the crime, let a child, under supervision, be the one to engage in the chat. At least then you really do have the element of the crime, solicitation of sex from a minor. Let’s continue to do this, but do it right.
Wrote: Jul 31, 2007 at 10:25 am
Rose, thank you for gathering this information. I’m getting caught up on my reading at the moment, and honestly my jaw is on the floor. In fact, you’ve illuminated a whole area of cyber bullying etc that was alluding me. I have so much to think about.
Hazel.
Wrote: Jul 31, 2007 at 10:33 am
PS, re Rose:
That is why I have been saying all along that civil groups like this should not be pedophile hunting. If anyone in the sting was a pedophile, they are now walking free because of Perverted Justice.
Absolutely. No doubt the majority of PJ are trying their best, but you have to wonder if they haven’t just become a pedophiles best friend by making such a mess AND by giving the pedo cause such PR.
Wrote: Jul 31, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Perverted Justice staged those stings, and got paid by NBC. The show was nothing more than a reality show and should not have been on TV. Civilian groups, such as PJ should not be interfering.
Wrote: Nov 7, 2007 at 10:38 pm
This just in. This should make every hard working American pissed:
http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2007/11/perverted-payday.php
2 million dollars? As a consultant for Dateline? This paid to a man who has never worked a honest day in his life?