Officers bend rules to boost sex sting arrest totals

[Neighbor]

Back in the day, I remember when the stings were so blatantly obvious, that they were literally hilarious.  One that I remember seeing on Usenet was for the Precious Treasure Holiday Company, offering escorted Mexican vacations to a gorgeous resort, where the travelers could indulge in  underage sex to their hearts' content.
As unbelievable as it may seem, there were actually people who fell for this, and were prosecuted and convicted.

As this article outlines, the police are now going much, much farther than they ever dared in the old days, and from all appearances, they seem to be getting away with it.

Neighbor

==============================================

Officers bend rules to boost sex sting arrest totals
Noah Pransky, WTSP 7:56 a.m. EDT August 9, 2014

This is the first of a two-part series examining how law enforcement is blurring the lines on due process.

POLK COUNTY, Florida – In the decade since Chris Hansen and "To Catch a Predator" popularized Internet sex stings, more than 1,200 men in Florida alone have been arrested, accused of preying on underage teens and children for sex.

But as the stings put more and more men behind bars, detectives are working harder and harder to keep up their arrest numbers. And the tactics they're using to put alleged sexual offenders in jail are sweeping up large numbers of law-abiding men, too.

A yearlong investigation by 10 Investigates reveals many of the men whose mugshots have been paraded out by local sheriffs in made-for-TV press conferences were not seeking to meet children online. Instead, they were minding their own business, looking for other adults, when detectives started to groom and convince them to break the law.

While detectives used to post ads suggesting an underage teen or child was available for sex, they now routinely post more innocuous personal ads of adults on traditional dating sites. When men – many of them under 25 with no criminal history - respond, officers switch the bait and typically indicate their age is really 14 or 15 years old. However, sometimes the storyline isn't switched until the men, who were looking for legal love, already start falling for the undercover agent.

According to arrest affidavits inspected by 10 Investigates, law enforcement is also now routinely making first contact with men who have done nothing wrong, responding to their ads on dating sites like PlentyOfFish.com. After men start conversing with what they think are adults, officers change the age they claim to be, but try to convince the men to continue the conversation anyway.

Other examples include undercover officers showing interest in a man, then later introducing the idea of having sex with the undercover's "child." If the men indicate they weren't interested, they were still often arrested for just talking to the adult.

Critics of the stings, including a number of prominent Tampa Bay law enforcement leaders, tell 10 News the operations make for better press conferences than they do crime fighting. Many of the men who are arrested for sexual predator crimes see little jail time.

But Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, when asked about over-aggressive detectives, instead went on the offensive: "The concern (I have) is that you inflate your investigative reporting to make it glitzy."

Judges have also been very critical of some of the tactics used in the stings, which violate Internet Crimes Against Children guidelines. Among the comments from judges in recent entrapment decisions (case numbers withheld to protect the defendants):

* "It was the agent who repeatedly steered the conversation back to sexual activity with a minor."

* "The government made a concerted effort to lure him into committing a crime."

* "The undercover officer failed to follow the procedures ..."

* "The law does not tolerate government action to provoke a law-abiding citizen to commit a crime."

The judge in one dismissed case criticized the undercover officer for failing to follow procedures and "the officer controlled the tone, pace and subject matter of online conversation, pushing toward a discussion of sexual activity."

The blurring of legal and ethical lines has led many agencies such as the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, and most of South Florida to focus their cybercrime resources on other areas of online abuse. Instead of conducting "To Catch a Predator"-style stings, they spend their time and effort on areas where there are known victims and children at immediate risk, like child porn and sex trafficking.

But the time- and resource-intensive predator stings are still alive and well in West/Central Florida, operating under the watchful eye of ICAC task force leader Judd.

Grady Judd's 'favorite topic'

Sheriff of Polk County since 2005, Judd has made it clear that targeting sexual predators is his top priority. He called hunting predators his "favorite topic" at a recent predator sting press conference, and he has invited national media outlets along for some of the operations. The predator stings have been featured in three MSNBC specials as well as a recent CNN series.

But Judd has been much less forthcoming when it comes to questions of how detectives lure in their targets and whether innocent men are getting swept up to.

Judd has failed to provide public records to 10 Investigates on the following issues:

- The language in the ads detectives post.

- How detectives responded when innocent men showed no interest in speaking to teens.

- If detectives are doing the stings because there is a problem of teens looking for adults online.

- How many men get baited before detectives find someone to investigate.

Judd said the overwhelming majority of men who communicate with detectives do the "right thing" and either end communication or report the officer posing as an underage teen -- or parent offering up a child -- to authorities. But he won't even turn over those communications over, a possible violation of Florida State Statute 119.

Judd says the records are exempt from state records laws because all of those men are still "under investigation," for they may surface in future stings. However, that indicates Judd - and other law enforcement leaders around Tampa Bay and Sarasota who have now used the same exemption to withhold records - have active investigations open on hundreds, if not thousands, of men who did nothing more than legally communicate with adults on legal websites.

The state's best-known lawman also showed little concern for due process during a Tuesday press conference to tout arrests since March in predator-style stings. He pointed to 132 mugshots on a giant posterboard and called the men "sexual predators."

But when 10 Investigates pointed out some of the men had already been cleared of charges, he said they were still fair game because "we have a very liberal - a very forgiving - criminal justice system."

That system may give defendants the benefit of doubt and assume "innocent until proven guilty;" but Judd makes sure the mugshots and stigma of being arrested for a sex crime haunts the men for the rest of their lives.

Critics point out many of the 1,200 men who are ultimately arrested in Florida and called "sexual predators" weren't preying or even looking for kids; many were seeking adults. The majority of them were in their teens or 20s at the time, and approximately 97 percent of the men had zero history of any sexual crimes or accusations.

"The biggest waste ever"

While countless West/Central Florida law enforcement agencies have gotten involved in the predator stings, including the sheriff's offices in Polk, Pinellas, Manatee, Citrus, and Sarasota, some agencies were noticeably absent at Judd's season-ending press conference.

Judd indicated the Hillsborough sheriff's office was a part of the operation, but was unable to attend. However, an HCSO spokesperson said the the agency has not been a participant.

While HCSO has a full-time "Internet Predator" unit, it has been reluctant to dedicate the huge resources needed for a "To Catch a Predator"-style sting. Instead, HCSO detectives are focused on offenders that are participating in "the proliferation of child porn," focusing on infants and young children who are exploited.

Hillsborough detectives say those type of arrests tend to yield better conviction rates, longer prison terms, and also provide law enforcement other leads on areas of crime like sex trafficking.

Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco has adopted similar priorities, saying his cybercrime unit is extremely proactive and focused on the areas of the worst abuse.

"Any way you can take a sexual predator off the street is tremendous," Nocco said. "Especially those that are online looking at child pornography ... they may do something physically against a young little kid."

Pasco also spends a lot of time and effort focused on teen-on-teen cybercrime because it can often be addressed before it ruins a person's life permanently.

Nocco was complimentary of ICAC, but says he's not a huge fan of the "To Catch a Predator"-style stings, saying the prosecutions often don't hold up.

"You spend your resources, you arrest somebody and then they walk right out. It's the biggest waste ever," Nocco said.

ICAC stings typically cost tens of thousands of dollars - sometimes close to $100,000 - in costs and officers' time, and that doesn't include the costs to prosecute and jail defendants.

10 Investigates found light plea sentences are sometimes offered because the suspects simply aren't considered dangerous offenders, contrary to Judd's claims.

Local law enforcement leaders also refused to turn over ICAC guidelines, claiming they were confidential investigative material. But a copy 10 Investigates obtained through court records indicates the online undercover stings, which typically don't involve real children or victims, are not even specified in the list of priorities agencies are supposed to target:

    A child is at immediate risk of victimization.

    A child is vulnerable to victimization by a known offender.

    A known suspect is aggressively soliciting a child(ren).

    Manufacturers, distributors or possessors of images that appear to be home photography with domiciled children.

    Aggressive, high-volume child pornography manufacturers or distributors who either are commercial distributors, repeat offenders, or specialize in sadistic images.

    Manufacturers, distributors, or solicitors involved in high-volume trafficking or belong to an organized child pornography ring that operates as a criminal conspiracy.

    Distributors, solicitors and possessors of images of child pornography.

    Any other form of child victimization.

Almost all of South Florida's law enforcement agencies have moved away from the stings as well. The Broward County Sheriff's Office, which is in charge of the South Florida ICAC task force, told 10 Investigates it was time for the agency to move on to other areas of cybercrime fighting.

The "other" victims

There may be no excuses for men who victimize children or those that look for underage victims online.

However, it's easier to make the case for the men who were swept up in the stings when they were looking online for adults.

"(My son) was stalked by law enforcement for three days," said the mother of a 22-year-old arrested in one of the stings. 10 Investigates is protecting the identity of her family.

The son was on Craiglist's personals pages, looking to meet other adults. He responded to a "no strings attached" ad for a 26-year-old woman. He says her story changed a few times, including the claim she was only 13, but he was skeptical.

He spoke on the phone to the undercover and she sent a photo, in which she was wearing a wedding ring. He said he was sure she was an adult (she was), so he made plans to meet her. When he arrived, he was arrested. He was later sentenced to two years of house arrest and a lifetime as a registered sex offender.

"He had a life of promise; he had an education," his mother said. "That's all been shot."

She says her son is paying the price of opportunistic lawmen.

Board-certified defense attorney Anthony Ryan says law enforcement officers have become experts in coercing innocent men into breaking the law.

"They are really good at subtly turning conversations and normal statements into sexual innuendo - whether or not the other side intended that," he said.

Ryan, who has a practice in Sarasota, just got a 23-year-old client's case dismissed in Manatee. A judge ruled deputies entrapped his client, writing that their tactics had "no place in modern day law enforcement."

Ryan adds that officers are pushing the boundaries further and further to keep up their arrest numbers and keep the federal ICAC grants flowing. And responding to legal ads on legal dating sites crosses the line.

"Once the low-hanging fruit is sort of gone, taken off the tree," Ryan said, "there's still pressure from high above to justify these actions."

[Sierra]

Why not mention the link for anyone who is interested?
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/investigations/2014/08/07/law-enforcement-crosses-lines-on-sex-stings-entrapment/13734121/ (Tor-safe, page uses javascript that is not necessarry to read the article so visit with JS turned off)

Part 2:
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/investigations/2014/08/08/grady-judd-sex-stings/13785165/

[Neighbor]

Why not mention the link for anyone who is interested?
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/investigations/2014/08/07/law-enforcement-crosses-lines-on-sex-stings-entrapment/13734121/ (Tor-safe, page uses javascript that is not necessarry to read the article so visit with JS turned off)

Part 2:
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/investigations/2014/08/08/grady-judd-sex-stings/13785165/

I forgot to include it. Also, I didn't see the link to Part 2 -- thanks for posting it.

Neighbor

[ministraw]

Wow, that's absolutely horrible. Not only are they trying to make people fall for them by catfishing with no intention of returning the feelings, which is shitty without entrapment, they are arresting people who did not take the bait! This is sick. Who is in on this? The cases need to be thrown out. A particularly chilling quote,
"Other examples include undercover officers showing interest in a man, then later introducing the idea of having sex with the undercover's "child." If the men indicate they weren't interested, they were still often arrested for just talking to the adult."

Arrested for what? Isn't pushing the idea akin to advertising sex crimes on minors? Another member mentioned that a jokester was arrested for pretending to advertise what constitutes as child pornography, because it is illegal whether the person truly has child pornography waiting for the receivers or not. If he made his own group and intended to publish the results, it would suddenly be another sound vigilante organization.

Can't even go on adult dating sites and mind your own business. Imagine an innocent person talking to another adult, being told they can have the child in bed to, the innocent laughing it off and telling them No, and then being arrested just for participating in conversation and I guess, not reporting it.

[lensman]

A chilling read.

I can almost imagine an entrapment ploy where a woman, clearly in her 20s - breasts, weeding ring and all, merely imagines during their online chats that she's 11 and the man still being arrested.

The justification being "a real, mature-looking 11-year old would still be 11-years old, even if she never stated her age. Consequently the fact that he did not ask, or she did not give the information, or she lied, would not exonerate him - he'd still be grooming an 11 year old.

So, although I'm a 25 year old policewoman, as far as this pervert knows I could have been a very mature 11 year old girl and so, in that case, he would be guilty."

It reminds me of one of those 'To Catch a Predator' shows a friend showed me, as a friendly warning. I remember a woman in her mid-20s dressed as a school-girl. She looked in her mid-twenties - a mid-twenties woman dressed as a saucy school girl! She'd accost a bloke and ask to borrow some money and then suggest they go off to her apartment (how many school girls have apartments?). The bloke, a bit taken aback, said - 'yes, ok' then she said 'oh, I'm 15, do you still want to come with me?'. The bloke said 'yes' - she spoke into a microphone and some heavies came, rugby tackled him etc etc

Well, as far as I can tell - the bloke was approached by a 25 year old prostitute, who in passing said she was 15. But she wasn't 15 - she was an obviously 20-odd year old woman pretending to be a school girl! It doesn't make her any more a 15 year old than iIf an 80 year old granny dressed as a school girl and told people she was 15 years. The woman was in her 20s, for god's sake!

Another sting they could do is to dress up an 11 year old incredibly sexually, teach her to behave in a manner that will tempt even non-paedophiles, get a man, any man, arrested for something trivial - jay walking or something, ply him with beer laced with viagra at the station and put him into a special cell with this highly trained nymphet - the cell would be full of plush satin fittings, Barry White on a sound system and incense wafting about - this girl would then have to seduce him. If she fails the coppers hold him down, whilst the 11 year old lowers herself onto him and takes him into herself. Then this disgusting monster and predator is charged with raping an under-age girl. Open and shut case, m'lud!

I hope that Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd gets caught up in some f-ing sting for tax-dodging, police corruption, bestiality, or, sweetest of all, for soliciting a minor.

We're just fields of wheat for these people, waiting to be harvested, whether we're guilty or innocent, good or bad, doing our best to live a decent life or not.

[ministraw]

It reminds me of one of those 'To Catch a Predator' shows a friend showed me, as a friendly warning. I remember a woman in her mid-20s dressed as a school-girl. She looked in her mid-twenties - a mid-twenties woman dressed as a saucy school girl! She'd accost a bloke and ask to borrow some money and then suggest they go off to her apartment (how many school girls have apartments?). The bloke, a bit taken aback, said - 'yes, ok' then she said 'oh, I'm 15, do you still want to come with me?'. The bloke said 'yes' - she spoke into a microphone and some heavies came, rugby tackled him etc etc

Well, as far as I can tell - the bloke was approached by a 25 year old prostitute, who in passing said she was 15. But she wasn't 15 - she was an obviously 20-odd year old woman pretending to be a school girl! It doesn't make her any more a 15 year old than iIf an 80 year old granny dressed as a school girl and told people she was 15 years. The woman was in her 20s, for god's sake!

Yup, that's how all TCAP stings go. They tend to find adults that can pass as the kids rather than having minors act in the house to be approached by the men. Even if they are in their 20s, they told them they were 14, 15, 13, whatever and the man still came over. It doesn't matter that she turned out to be of age, it is that they went with the intent to get with a minor. Their reactions are sad at times. They say they didn't know her age, that they were just coming over as friends, then Chris Hansen asks why they have condoms and drinks with them... that he has the chat logs, pulls them out... sigh.

[cuzmon25]

The authorities are lying to boost their numbers!!  I am shocked, shocked I say! 

OK, maybe not.  The problem is with the aressts of these "predators of our children" their lives are ruined even when they are found innocent due to entrapment or lack of evidence.  This has been going on for as lang as I can remember no matter what the law they are trying to enforce is.  Someone gets killed in an intersection due to possible speeding, speed traps get set up until the local fury gets satisfied.  I am convinced that no matter how advanced we think we are, society still likes to see people get thrown to the lions and able to look down on them.  I do not think that they even consider that they may be the next one thrown in (like the parents that had bathing pictures of the infant in a photo album that some judge tried to label as child porn).

[GLover]

Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: Ok, alright, yes, for fuck's sake! Anything you say, just shut up!
Undercover Cop: You are under arrest you pervert!

[gameover]

This is why we MUST be careful, here and everyone else.  I remember reading an article where a professional model scout was "busted" for "grooming" and meeting up with teens. And I mean 16+. Which really make them adults! Not children and yet was collard becaus according to only one girl he was "creepy" and the LEOs jumped at it

[ministraw]

This is why we MUST be careful, here and everyone else.  I remember reading an article where a professional model scout was "busted" for "grooming" and meeting up with teens. And I mean 16+. Which really make them adults! Not children and yet was collard becaus according to only one girl he was "creepy" and the LEOs jumped at it

Wow. A scout picked up one of my 11 year old friends for modeling a few years ago, who knows where he'd be if she decided he was creepy instead of a chance for $.

Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
....

LOL.

[Neighbor]

Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: No!
Undercover Cop: Do you want to have sex with a 13yo girl?
Target/Suspect: Ok, alright, yes, for fuck's sake! Anything you say, just shut up!
Undercover Cop: You are under arrest you pervert!

:palm2

Sadly, although what you wrote above was intended to be humorous, there is more truth to it than not. Studies have actually been conducted on why people confess, even though they are innocent of the crime they are confessing to. It turns out that the entire process of interrogation revolves around putting sufficient psychological pressure on people to get them to agree to what the authorities want.  Many times suspects will say anything even to the point of making a false confession, just to get themselves out of the interrogation room. 

Usually, in a contest of this sort, the suspect loses -- the officer may conduct one or two thousand such interrogations per year -- most people find themselves in the interrogation room only once or twice in a lifetime. The suspect is under enormous emotional and psychological pressure -- cut off from most of the supports that would otherwise anchor them in daily life. The officer, meanwhile, is in their chosen element.  It requires enormous resolve to resist such pressure, particularly for the untrained.

If you ever find yourself in such a situation, remember the adage: Never miss an opportunity to shut the fuck up!

The strategy is to get you to talk... once you start, they know it is easier to continue down the path of least resistance, until you end up hanging yourself with your own words.

Neighbor

[spartans]

This action seems to be the norm with police interrogations. I was one of the unlucky a decade ago. I was arrested in the early afternoon, around lunchtime, stayed with detectives and officers at my home for a few hours while they completed a search warrant, never questioning me. I was then taken to the jail around 6ish, after dinner had been served. I made a comment that I hadn't eaten, the jail officer said they could try and find food, to which the transporting officer responded that I didn't need it. I was booked and sent to the "tank". I finally fell asleep and around 4 am was woken up and taken to the detective's office, where I was questioned pretty much exactly like that. I was in there for 4 hours being questioned for various things, the original arrest was an of-topic minor crime, but happened in another state, so this was a "fugative from justice" warrant. I ended up admitting to some things I did not do. To make a long story short, the original crime wasn't thrown out but time-served was given, the new crime was on-topic, but the judge saw through the BS of the detectives and prosecutor, especially since the tape of my interrogation was destroyed and the transcript is only 3 pages. I did take a plea on that, but the judge went completely against the recommended prison sentence. It was only a short time in jail for me. The worst part, my crime was a misdemeanor only a few days before I was arrested.

I will post more of my story in the appropriate thread, if this is not it.

[dreamer]

The whole idea of trying to find kids on the internet seems to me dumb. But then again, I'm mostly interested in under-12s and they wouldn't be on the internet anyway.

[familyguy]

As dumb as it sounds, I think I saw the old vacation service scam operating not that long ago. Are people still falling for that?
Or maybe a better question is are there any actual underage vacation services operating so that the sting is plausible in the first place?  It would be one thing if they were catching people trying to hook up with the actual service, but if people are chasing shadows looking for services that don't exist at all...

[Chen]

The whole idea of trying to find kids on the internet seems to me dumb. But then again, I'm mostly interested in under-12s and they wouldn't be on the internet anyway.

In this day and age you'd be surprised...