Citizen stings target ‘creeps’
‘Creep Catchers’ name and confront adults who seek young victims online.
Young people in San Diego pose online as underage and then shame suitors.
SAN DIEGO — They call themselves the Creep Catchers Unit.
For the last year, this small group of 20-somethings has run citizen stings in the region, particularly North County, posing as young teens on dating sites, and agreeing to meet with people they suspect are trying to lure them for sex.
“CC_Unit” records the meetup — more of a confrontation — then posts the video online, along with the chat logs, some of which look pretty damning. In one, a man asks the teen if he should bring a condom.
After a recorded encounter with CC_Unit last spring, a Camp Pendleton Marine in his 30s was courtmartialed, sentenced to six months in the brig and drummed out of the service with a dishonorable discharge.
In another instance earlier this year, military-focused online news outlet Task & Purpose reported that the local creep-catchers posted a video of a Navy sailor who was questioned later by military criminal investigators. He later took his own life.
These sorts of citizen sting operations can result in public shaming but usually don’t lead to prosecution. Some hail them as effective, exposing predators who target vulnerable young people. Others worry because the operatives are untrained and the situations are dangerous. And what about due process for the accused?
Several groups in North America and abroad use similar tactics, and many call themselves some variation of “creep catchers” or “pedophile hunters.”
“It’s a bit of a Wild West,” said Joe Purshouse, a lecturer at University of East Anglia’s School of Law in the United Kingdom. “It has become de-professionalized .... Anyone can do it.”
Purshouse, who studies the phenomenon, pointed to dangers. Some targets do kill themselves. Others have attacked the vigilante with the camera.
But there are those who believe it’s worth the risk.
The founder of the local Creep Catchers Unit goes by the moniker “Ghost.” The San Diego Union-Tribune communicated with him through the group’s Facebook page.
Ghost agreed to talk but declined to provide his name, citing a need for anonymity as an aspect of the group’s work.
“Public shaming is great deterrent for predators,” Ghost said. “Predators love hiding in the shadows and lurking/preying [on] victims. I shine the light on darkness and expose them.”
And, he said, there is “never vigilante violence.”
He said he started the group in August 2018; it now has three to five members, all in their early 20s.
The local group has posted more than 50 videos online. The Union-Tribune has viewed several of them.
Many of the recordings show a disclaimer reading: “We apologize to the family and friends of the Pedophile for bringing shame and embarrassment.”
Sometimes, the target verbally denies exchanging inappropriate or sexually suggestive messages with someone he had believed was underage. At that point, text from the chat logs reappears on the screen to remind the viewer what had been said.
Ghost told the Union-Tribune that he makes decoy profiles on dating apps, posing as a teen boy or girl. Then the hits start coming.
“I never contact anyone first,” Ghost said. “The creep always messaged me first. I let them know my age. They acknowledge the age and then talk sexual.”
The age he gives them in the chats varies. In several of the videos, he tells the target he is 13 or 14. Sometimes he tells them the decoy character is in middle school.
The target — ages appear to vary from 20s to 60s — might ask the decoy what time they get out of school. The target might send a selfie, sometimes shirtless. Some don’t say anything explicitly suggestive. Sometimes, as seen in the videos, they say they just want to hang out with the teen.
They arrange to meet — usually in a crowded spot. At least one man shown in one of the videos asks in a chat log whether he should bring condoms.
The targets in the videos, all men, are surprised when an adult with a cellphone camera walks up. In each video, their faces fall when he calls them by name, then calls them out for trying to meet a kid.
If the target flees, Ghost often chases them, asking why they came to meet a child. He yells that he has called police.
Ghost said all of the “catches” are recorded, but not all have been posted online yet. Sometimes after the video is posted, CC_Unit followers alert potentially interested parties, including the target’s employers.
Last month, the Cal State San Marcos student newspaper reported that one of the CC_Unit encounters led to an investigation of a man who worked with students on campus.
University authorities confirmed that someone sent an email directing officials to the video. The next morning, law enforcement was notified, as was the man’s employer. A university spokeswoman said the person is no longer working on campus, but that “we do have to allow for due process.”
A Marine Corps spokesman at Camp Pendleton confirmed the investigations of three locally based military men seen in the CC_Unit videos, including the now-deceased sailor.
“All allegations of misconduct are taken seriously and thoroughly investigated,” 2nd Lt. Brian Tuthill said in an email, “and we hold our Marines accountable if they violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”
Of the other two men, one was tried in military court and convicted. No charges were filed against the other.
Ghost said his group was not involved in a citizen sting in North County last month that landed in the headlines.
In that instance, according to the county Sheriff’s Department, a group of teens hoped to expose an Oceanside man they had connected with online, and suspected he was seeking to have sex with a minor.
Arrangements were made to meet the man in Vista. There, one of the teens — a 17-year-old girl — agreed to get into his car. He drove off with her without her consent, the Sheriff’s Department said. She was able to send her friends a message asking for help. They called law enforcement.
Deputies stopped the car and arrested the man on suspicion of kidnapping. Authorities remain mum on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.
The day after the Vista incident, the Sheriff ’s Department issued a statement that it “strongly discourages the public from setting up meetings or contacting anyone for the purpose of catching an individual who is committing a crime.”
The situations, the department warned, “can be extremely dangerous.”
Last week, Sheriff’s Lt. Justin White reiterated the danger, and said people who conduct such operations need to be properly trained with resources at the ready to ensure everyone is safe.
“We as law enforcement have specialized units that deal with these type of situations,” White said. “This is something that even a law enforcement officer coming out of the academy is not trained to do.”
In San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties, cases of child sexual exploitation online are handled by the San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
San Diego Police Sgt. Dale Flamand, who supervises the task force, said members sometimes do similar undercover work. He said each team member gets at least 80 hours of training, including how to gather evidence that is likely to be admissible in court.
He also said that, with more kids on cellphones, their case load has tripled. Often, in cases of child molestation, the perpetrator is familiar with the victim, but online, more likely than not, the luring comes from a stranger.
But how does a stranger entice a kid for sex? Teenagers who grew up on social media have no problem seeing connections with people they have never met before as true relationships.
“It’s jaw-dropping, but to a younger person, they don’t see it as a stranger,” San Diego Police spokesman Lt. Shawn Takeuchi said.
Ghost said the online chats are not a trick to entice someone to commit a crime.
“I always let the creep know how old the decoy is,” Ghost said. “It’s not entrapment when the creep knows and acknowledges the age.”