Creep Catchers president arrested
Surrey Creep Catchers president Ryan LaForge was arrested Wednesday evening in Surrey, supporters of the controversial group of vigilante pedophile hunters say.
According to witness Jeff Rawluk, LaForge was in the middle of a “catch,” or a confrontation of an individual targeted by the group, which is videotaped and posted online.
As LaForge attempted to place the target under citizen’s arrest, the individual called police, Rawluk said, then fled.
When Surrey RCMP arrived, they arrested LaForge, a move that Rawluk said “baffled” the Creep Catcher.
“While we were standing there watching him get arrested, he was totally baffled.
“He was trying to figure out if it was court he missed, or what,” said Rawluk.
In a video of the arrest shared online by Chris Bondurant, LaForge shouts “SCC for life!” as he is taken into custody.
Surrey RCMP Cpl. Scotty Schumann confirmed officers arrested a member of a “vigilante group” Wednesday on an outstanding warrant in the 10100 block of King George Blvd.
Police had been called after a report that two men were chasing a third man. The two men confirmed to officers they had been chasing a man who they alleged was a pedophile.
Schumann did not name the man police arrested on the outstanding warrant, which originated in Chilliwack on a charge of contempt of court.
LaForge was in custody overnight, appeared in court and was released on Thursday.
Back online Thursday evening, LaForge thanked his supporters in a Facebook post. The video of his most recent confrontation was posted online immediately afterward.
LaForge is also slated to appear this weekend at the group’s Christmas fundraiser, their second such event this year, to be held Friday night at The Attic Bar and Lounge in Delta.
Surrey Creep Catchers have run afoul of the law several times in the past. In April, LaForge was charged with assault after pushing and threatening one of the group’s targets.
In July, the group was found to have violated the Personal Information Privacy Act in regards to two complainants and ordered to destroy all videos and “stop collecting, using and disclosing ” the personal information of two individuals caught up in their sting operations.
LaForge was defiant.
“I told them to go f*** themselves,” he said in a video posted to Facebook.
LaForge continued, “I said it from the beginning and I’ll say it again: I will never destroy, I will never take down videos voluntarily.
“I will fight to the very, very end to keep all these videos up. I’ll never destroy chat logs. These guys are predators.”
One of the complainants told Postmedia in November that he fears for his safety since being confronted by the vigilantes.
“I did succeed in having it removed from YouTube, but not from Facebook or other sites,” he said.
“It seems that each time I complain, Mr. LaForge and members of Surrey Creep Catcher ‘reblast’ it to punish me.”