Group faces suits alleging defamation and threats

VANCOUVER — A vigilante group that claims to expose alleged pedophiles is facing two defamation lawsuits in B.C., including one from a man who criticized the group’s practices in an online commentary that he says led to him wrongly being called a pedophile.

Sean Smith of Campbell River filed a notice of claim in B.C. Supreme Court on March 16 against the president of the Surrey Creep Catchers, Ryan LaForge, alleging he identified Smith as a pedophile in a series of public posts on Facebook.

Smith said that as a result, he received response posts threatening him with death or bodily harm.

The social-media consultant and educator said he created a video sharing his critical perspective on creep catcher groups because their practices are at odds with what he teaches people about online etiquette.

“The social-media shaming, the accusations that are unfounded, the incitement of a social-media mob to attack a person, the fact that what you post online today will never go away because the Internet never forgets — it was everything that was not right about social media,” he said in an interview.

Smith is seeking damages to be determined by the court. None of the allegations made in has been proven in court.

LaForge has not filed a statement of defence, but in an interview he said he is exercising his right to free speech.

“I’m allowed to have my opinion,” he said. “He claims he doesn’t agree with pedophilia and their acts but yet everything he does, every minute of every day he spends is to put us down and defame myself and my crew.”

LaForge said he has also been the victim of negative online comments as a result of the dispute.

Smith’s lawsuit follows another notice of claim that was filed against LaForge by Jamie Su of Abbotsford in B.C. Supreme Court on Feb. 28. Su’s lawyer Christopher Terepocki refused to comment.