Former peace officer charged after vigilantes set online trap
Charges have been approved against a Kamloops man, after a man who thought he was communicating with a 14-year-old girl was snared by an Okanagan-based online vigilante group.
Kevin Johnston, a former B.C. deputy sheriff, has been charged with three counts of communicating with a person believed to be underage for the purpose of facilitating a sexual offence, and one count of invitation to sexual touching.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between Aug. 8-27 in or near Kelowna and Kamloops.
Last week, an RCMP officer in Surrey was arrested and is being investigated for child luring and sexual exploitation. His name hasn’t been made public. This after a vigilante group called Creep Catchers released video of a confrontation with a man who thought he was meeting an underage girl.
Justice branch spokesman Dan McLaughlin said the men were caught by separate vigilante organizations that provided opportunities for people to communicate with what they thought were girls.
The latest case comes after a man contacted a decoy, who claimed to be a 14-year-old but was an adult working with an Okanagan-based Creep Hunters.
In a statement on Tuesday, the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch said Kelowna RCMP asked earlier this month for a special prosecutor to avoid any potential conflict of interest in the investigation, as Johnston was deputy sheriff for the B.C. Ministry of Justice at the time of the communications.
Benjamin Perrin, an associate professor at the UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law, said that the existence of vigilante groups like Creep Catchers and Creep Hunters speak to a growing frustration about an increase in Internet child exploitation.
However, he said that doesn’t justify the groups’ actions.
Perrin said he finds it remarkable that two officers in B.C. faced allegations within the same week of Internet child exploitation.
Perrin has several concerns about the vigilante groups’ actions.
“I think we’ll see the evidence challenged and ultimately charges being stayed or dropped. Some charges might stick, but the courts won’t accept vigilante justice as a substitute for dealing with this pressing social issue.”