Perverted Justice Flaunts Judge’s Order
Not much in the way of Internet predator sting ops this past week. So instead of the weekly round-up of scumbags, I am going to play the other side of the coin and talk about one of the groups that has made a name for itself by going after online predators trying to lure minors for sex.
While I appreciate their work and don’t dispute that fact that these predator sickos need to be wiped off the net, the folks at Perverted Justice are going about it all wrong.
For starters you can read this piece: Chatmag Special Report: Perverted-Justice.com
But the most recent story concerning PJ is that of an inflated ego and thinking they are above the law. Again, it’s not that I don’t like the work they do; it’s more of the fact they need to shed the god complex. They receive insane amounts of funds and still have the balls to file for consideration as a non-profit. Their tactics are questionable, at best, and instead of holding dirtbags accountable in a civil manner (not that they deserve it), they take matters into their own hands, making a spectacle of their work, border on entrapment, and – now – straight up disobey direct court orders.
Check it out:
Dateline NBC Sponsored Vigilante Group Flaunts Judge’s Order
In yet another bizarre twist to the already controversial trials stemming from the Dateline NBC series, “To Catch A Predator”, the vigilante group hired by NBC has refused a Judge’s order to allow a computer to be examined by a computer forensic expert.
Todd Spikes and Daniel Kelly, represented by Attorney Ted Zentner, are on trial in Bunnell, Florida, charged after they were apprehended in a Dateline NBC sting conducted in Flagler County, Florida. Zentner requested that a computer forensic expert be allowed to examine the computer of the Perverted-Justice.com decoy living in Kentucky.
The Judge in the case, Kim C. Hammond, had made an agreement with the defense Attorneys to allow the examination of Internet chat logs on the decoy’s computer. When the forensic expert appeared to facilitate an examination, they were turned away with no reason given. The decoy ignored a court order to have their computer examined.
Perverted-Justice.com was hired by Dateline NBC to act as online decoys during a series of stings, in which alleged Internet predators were lured to a house rented by Dateline NBC. Prior to being arrested, the alleged predators were interviewed by Chris Hansen of Dateline NBC. Hansen has since published a book stemming from the Dateline NBC series and has embarked on a lecture series, representing himself as an expert in Internet safety issues. Hansen has no credentials as an expert in Internet safety, and no experience in the field, outside of the controversial series.
Perverted-Justice.com and their employees have consistently held themselves as a pseudo-law enforcement group, and have made statements in the past that they will only obey laws and orders which favor their particular brand of vigilantism.
The question of the integrity of chat logs was first brought to light in a Special Report published by Chatmag.com in 2004, and has set off a flurry of investigations into the workings of Perverted-Justice.com. Legal scholars and law enforcement agencies have taken Perverted-Justice to task for their less than ethical and possibly illegal methods, and the refusal of a Perverted-Justice.com decoy to comply with a court order comes as no surprise to those who’ve tracked and spoken up against Perverted-Justice.com and their methods.
