I like law enforcement being aggressive,” Molfetta said. Linda Dunn, a chief deputy district attorney in Riverside County, said the outcomes so far - 19 men have entered guilty pleas and a 20th has been convicted - prove the strength of the Riverside cases.Īttorney Michael Molfetta, whose client Christopher Urban was convicted in August, said he had no problem with law enforcement casting a wide net to reel in people who use the Internet to prey on children. “I have an issue with private citizens engaging in these kinds of investigatory practices,” Nolan said, referring to Perverted Justice.īut in the days following the sting, then-Sheriff Bob Doyle said the department agreed to participate because the national exposure would send a “strong message to these dirtbags to stop preying on kids.” “It’s an unholy alliance,” said Tom Nolan, a Boston University associate professor and former Boston police officer who uses the Predator segments as the basis of discussions in his criminal justice classes. Law-enforcement experts say the partnership among Dateline, police agencies and, a civilian group whose volunteers pose as young boys and girls in online chat rooms and wait to be contacted by adult men, raises serious questions about investigative techniques, evidence gathering and police autonomy. A former police officer calls the stings “an unholy alliance.” David Bauman / The Press-Enterprise.īut cases that initially seemed like slam-dunk convictions - the men were seen on camera crying, pleading or even confessing - have yielded uneven results both in Riverside County and other “Predator” sting locations.Īnd the show, which has broadcast 11 “Predator” segments, has come under fire in the form of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by the sister of a Texas assistant district attorney who shot himself as police officers stormed his home during the now-notorious sting in Murphy, Texas, in November 2006. They included a high school teacher and a Department of Homeland Security agent.Īttorney Court Will represented William Lawrence Havey, one of 51 men arrested during an Internet sex sting in Mira Loma in 2006. Over three days in January 2006, 51 men, ranging in age from 66 to 19 and from throughout Southern California, were arrested at a Mira Loma home. The addition of law enforcement added a powerful element to an already dramatic scenario: Men who arrived for what they believed was a rendezvous with a minor were arrested by deputies and charged with crimes including attempted child molestation. The first two segments in New York and the northern Virginia/Washington, D.C., area nabbed a firefighter, a rabbi and a teacher.įor the third installment,, the Internet watchdog group that collaborated with “Dateline” on the “Predator” stings, asked that law enforcement be added to the mix and suggested the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, which had worked with the group previously. Program host Chris Hansen on camera confronted grown men who had been lured to a house by the prospect of sex with children. When “Dateline NBC” aired its first “To Catch a Predator” segment in 2004, it made for sensational television. The Press-Enterprise 07:49 AM PDT on Friday, September 28, 2007 Dateline NBC ‘To Catch A Predator’ Sex Stings Net Mixed Results By SANDRA STOKLEY
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