State Justice Department Discourages Residents Trying to Catch Online Sex Predators

Thursday, October 7th, 2021 -- 11:01 AM

(Raymond Neupert, WRN) The State Justice Department wants people to stop trying to catch online sex predators on their own.

Attorney General Josh Kaul says this sort of online vigilantism can do much more harm than good when it's time to actually prosecute offenders. "Somebody who realizes that there's a vigilante out there might switch to a different online platform and that could stop law enforcement officers from making an arrest. It's also really dangerous for somebody to engage in vigilante actions and try to make an arrest."

Kaul says that simply makes it harder to make actual arrests. "We've got investigators were working hard to make sure that predators are prosecuted, and if you have that kind of information please provide it to law enforcement."

A number of these groups try to set up their own stings to catch alleged predators, and Kaul says doing this for internet clout just harms actual investigations. Kaul has made this request in the past after a group posted their attempts to lure a predator to Johnson Creek and catch him on video.

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