Member Submission: Predators in Police Clothing
Written by Linda, a CAGE member and supporter.
You’re a Washington State Patrol officer with Operation Net Nanny. It’s an Internet Crimes Against Children task force and you’re on your way to arrest an innocent man.
The dirty jokes fly during the ride but the scripts your commander writes for you to lure these guys in sometimes make you wonder. It’s worse than the shit you watch when the wife’s out of town.
As the van parks behind a house, you high-five each other and grab your gear. Everyone is armed and wearing a flack vest with the Net Nanny logo on the back. Some guys write tallies on their hats in permanent ink.
This time all of the equipment seems like overkill. The 19 year old kid you talked into driving to meet you won’t know what hit him because you’ve got him thinking up is down.
You’re allowed to lie and deceive and your tactics work best on the vulnerable. You troll for your targets in adults-only forums where they’ll assume they’re talking to other adults. When they ask, you send them a photo of an adult female police officer – minus the uniform, of course. Some of these guys are still in their teens and many have underlying developmental issues that affect their judgement so they get confused when you suddenly tell them you’re underage.
This one stopped texting you so you approached him again and again until he relented, skeptical of your claim and knowing role play is common in online forums.
You know he’s guilty of bad judgement and you also know he’s not a predator. There’s a difference between a man who’s dumb enough to follow the wrong head and the guy who plans ahead. Still, you’re going for attempted rape of a child.
You had no probable cause when you first engaged him but once you got him to talk sex you were able to begin collecting evidence. You coached him into driving to meet you. You even told him what to bring so you could arrest him with the evidence you’d need to put him away.
Only a handful of the dozens of guys you arrest have a criminal record, photos, or any other incriminating evidence in their possession but a bunch of Joe Schmoes is easier and cheaper to round up than the real thing – and the numbers make for great headlines.
You stoke hysteria in hyped-up press releases where you call those you’ve arrested sexual predators and publish their names as if they’ve already been convicted. You use language that elicits fear – and donations.
Manipulation is your Modus Operandi.
You falsely report that the stings involve victims in order to procure federal grant money and the overtime you spend on them boosts the value of your retirement pension.
You know it’s a racket and you don’t give a shit about the wreckage you leave behind.“How old’s this one again?” someone asks. “Too young for you” someone else says, followed by laughter.
You crawl out of the van and take your positions in the house. Someone asks you what you’re ordering at the Chinese restaurant you’re hitting after the sting. You call out “Sweet and Sour, baby; like your Grandma”. You hear groans.
Your mind wanders as you shift in your vest and your finger twitches against the trigger of your weapon. A part of you wishes the target would draw a gun on you…As you hear a car approaching, you pat yourself on the back for the skill it took to lure an innocent man into spending the rest of his life in prison.
A car door shuts. You get the signal and you move. Gun drawn, you watch in disbelief as your teammates take your son into custody.
Wow!
This is POWERFUL stuff! Excellent!
(Sad, but excellent)
Finally, a happy ending.
All, post NO spoilers, please— read it to the end!
I like, among other things, the way this inverts the point of view from which we typically discuss these stings.
Thank you, CAGE!
Wow, powerful!
Well done
there should be a list of officers that have been arrested for anything involving and underage person. I know in Florida i can remember at least 3 in the past 4 years one took his own life rather than end up on the registry.
Dear No Hope. You mention a list of cops who broke the law. There actually is a rather unknown list called a Brady list, named after Brady v. Maryland. All prosecution offices in Florida keep a Brady list on officers whose testimony might be considered unreliable for lying under oath or other reasons. Unfortunately, many defense lawyers don’t know to ask whether their clients were investigated by a cop on a prosecutor’s Brady list.
Our System of justice is Broken beyond all hopes of repair. Police can lie and entrap innocent people. All it takes is the point of a finger to put someone behind the walls for sometimes for the rest of their lives. The real crimes are when a child is used for the purpose of a spouse, family member, or friend to get even or to get rid of someone that they no longer want for whatever reason. Sometimes it is for the purpose of getting what you own, and other times it is because of an affair that the accuser just wants to get out of the relationship without any problems. Or it could just be that someone is angry about something.
Or as in my case a mother losses her kids due to drugs I get custody she fakes getting clean ( cheating on her drug test ) wants sole custody back the court says she can’t have it only shared custody I’m accused with no evidence I’m convicted BAM she’s got sole custody
It is simple for a woman to make off with all of a man’s property. All she needs to do is download a picture of one of Sally Mann’s children (Sally Mann was given the right to publish books with photos of her nude children) from a simple Google search available on any cell phone, put it on a computer and tell law enforcement it is your boyfriend’s computer. Once the woman’s boyfriend is in jail, she can help herself to all of the man’s belongings. Scam works best in counties known to have high payouts for wrongful convictions where judges don’t even allow the defendants into the court room.
@Jerry
We don’t have a justice system, but a legal system where deals are made and hands scratched the backs of each other to get what they want. It pays to know someone in the end.
Wonderful piece about the destruction of life occurring up in WA state. Thank you Linda!
You’re welcome and thank you for giving me the opportunity to have this published!
My main goal in writing this was to lay out in plain view, what they go to incredible lengths to hide.
It’s hard for the general public to parse out the truth by the time they’re done with someone.
Linda
Great job Linda! Can I use this article to show to our legislators and media? I’m also a CAGE member.
Absolutely! I have an alternate but very similar version of this that goes into more legal detail and talks more about the ruinous effects these types of stings have on the convicted and their families if you want to take a look at that one and decide between the two. I don’t know how to get it to you though.
I don’t know if I can share a link here but try this to take a look at the alternate version.
For sharing, it’s longer but it lays out the impacts on the families and convicted better. It also illustrates how the inequities go far beyond the stings and into court rooms.
I’ve read some cases I can’t believe still stand.
The password is Netnazi. Let me know if this link doesn’t work.
https://diaryofamadwomancom.wordpress.com/2021/10/21/predator/?preview_id=848&preview_nonce=d1aa226892&preview=true&_thumbnail_id=1243
Grateful for the posting of this link to the alt version.
Love how the language, “as you groom your victim,” turns the tables.
I may have to borrow and use the “lifetime membership” language if that’s ok.
It IS a lifetime membership. My husband and I know too well. He’s the one who suggested the ending.
Speaking of a lifetime membership, I don’t think ANYONE who is not the registry can fathom what life is like. Sounds like another article.
That is exactly what they do on arrest sheet they (detectives) even say we target suspect wonder what they would do if it one of their relatives son brother grandson etc probably let them go
But there’s a catch. If it really was one of the member’s son, He’d be scolded and told to go home and keep his mouth shut because pigs take care of their own.
Disgusted, what you wrote might be true in some situations but not all. There are actually a lot of ex-LEOs who are FAC members or contributors. Some got busted by their own. Others were busted by the feds or a different agency than their own. Just as we dispise being covered with the catch all stigma of SOs, a lot of cops and ex-cops despise being labeled as corrupt pigs who take care of their own.
This is an example of a common scenario of a Net Nanny sting and the information in it is based off of first hand accounts and cases I’ve read.
The main goal of this article is to illustrate the level of manipulation involved in these types of stings and the financial incentives that drive them.
There are the good, the bad, and the ugly in all walks of life but
a position in law enforcement demands a sense of responsibility above and beyond an ordinary citizen.
Oversight and accountability should be in step in order to avoid the catastrophic consequences that result from poorly supervised sting operations.
This piece is also meant to be an example of how the consequences of one’s own actions may manifest in ways they might not expect.
While this is not funny and actually is the very tactics these “Law Enforcement” officers use. I got a kick out of it lol.
This describes exactly what happened to my son
I would hope that in a scenario like this, the officer(s) would rethink their use of deceit and cease their methods.
Lol. MB. You would hope but if they did they wouldn’t be able to run they’re little scams
I was curious about how much sex offender stings operations cost. I didn’t dive deep but found a good piece on a lawyers website. It said about $100k per, and that money comes from there federal government. So it’s a money scheme as most of us thought. Under my same search I found an article a couple years ago in Indianapolis a sting with only one man was charged after trying to lure men to a hotel to meet a minor. Now if they were really looking for a minor from the get go then yes lock them up. But as it shows from the two articles it’s all publicity and money. I thought about emailing this instead of posting here in hopes to share the stuff with more people. But I’m about to have back surgery and I’m sorry but this is easier.
I’m curious if the police force bills the government or if it’s part of its regular budget?
I mean: cops are generally paid salaries, tactical gear gets used for multiple raids, etc.
I read about a sting that said the Marshals we’re covering the overtime for the sheriff to do the sting. So I think, not sure, it is something they all for from the feds. I’m trying to find more about it. Any tools that can be shared to show why the registry is bad, why these stings are a waste, will help us all eventually. Hopefully.
it depends on if it is an ICAC sting operation or not. If it is, it is funded by the OJJDP of the DOJ.
I don’t know about elsewhere but in Washington state, my understanding is that Net Nanny is/was? a special operation that wasn’t fully funded. They were allowed to solicit donations from the private sector which, in my opinion, was a set up for financial incentives.
In the past, WSP had an especially close relationship with a group called O.U.R. which, it turns out, is now under criminal investigation.
Donations paid for overtime and overtime contributes to how much a WSP officer gets at retirement.
Incentives anyone?
Not enough room here to cover everything.
if it is an icac run sting funded by the OJJDP they must file reports per the MOU but does not include expenditures. Why? i have no idea, You would think they would require an itemized list but they do not.
i researched these stings for years, received FOIA requests i made from the DOJ, numerous news articles and worked with several reporters on this issue and Lord knows how many attorneys as well as others arrested in stings. It is the biggest scam ever and they’ve gotten away with ruining the lives of innocent men. Its called “cooking the books” and they’ve fooled so many.
I’m wanting to encourage people to fight fire with fire: go for their money in a civil law suit. 42 USC 1983 is one to consider. It has to do with states actions denying people of their constitutional rights which is what is happening.
Couldn’t hurt to talk to an attorney because money talks to the government.
A side effect of past civil suits? Prosecutors being sanctioned and undercover officers being indicted for perjury. Look up Tulia Texas drug sting.
this pretty much sums it up and it is well orchestrated, especially the way they report the information to media to make it look like they are the heroes when in fact they are the villian
It shocks me how this type of activity continues to go on unabated. Clearly the general public, for the most part, despises anyone even suspected of being a SO, but obvious entrapment of innocent people should surely upset even those haters ? How is it that the ACLU doesn’t get involved in these phoney stings ? Is it the stigma ? Or am I wrong and the ACLU does intervene on some of these ?
Luckily, if you can afford a competent attorney, you may prevail in one of these flimsy charges. Sadly though, not everyone can afford a good lawyer and the PD office is far to overburdened to really help anyone.
The entrapment isn’t obvious b/c law enforcement tells news reporters that the targets are predators. And those reporters rely on law enforcement for a constant stream of sensational scoops. It’s time-consuming unrewarding for reporters to ask more questions and poke holes.
Plus the US legal definition of entrapment is rather narrow, limiting the options of the PD office in many cases.
i can’t tell you how hard we tried to get ACLU involved even after Florida’s top ACLU guy went on the record to call out the stings, but no ACLU attorney would take the case and it was inexcusable in my opinion. https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/investigations/aclu-leader-wants-federal-review-of-polk-sex-stings/67-300242131
“Gun drawn, you watch in disbelief as your teammates take your son into custody.”
I’m abstain from quoting a % right now as FAC has moderated my previous posts. Let’s just say, quite a few minors commit sex crimes.
This story is not suggesting that his son is a minor. It is suggesting that the he and his buddies just entrapped his son. How their came back to bite one of their own. His son could be 18 yrs old or up. Js
They moderated mine as well. However, I put alot of controversial politics in my reply.
Florida places minors on the registry and keeps them there.