Sweers has already been sued and hopefully soon, he'll find himself in more hot water.
https://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-359-92297_47203-499598--,00.html
Law Enforcement to Vigilantes: Leave Investigations to Law Enforcement
Contact: Kelly Rossman-McKinney (517) 335-7666
Agency: Attorney General
MEDIA CONTACT:
AG: Kelly Rossman-McKinney
(o) 517-335-7666 (c) 517-512-9342
Dan Olsen
(o) 517-335-7666 (c) 517-290-780
MSP: D/Lt. Liz Rich, MSP Cyber Section
(989) 370-7989
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Law Enforcement to Vigilantes: Leave Investigations to Law Enforcement
LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Michigan State Police (MSP) are sending a strong message to residents who are targeting suspected child sexual predators: vigilante activity will not be tolerated.
A vigilante’s recent behavior in the Grand Rapids area has escalated and demonstrated reckless conduct, including luring suspected online predators to a public place, recording the sometimes violent interactions, then posting the videos on social media, according to the Michigan State Police. Authorities have told the vigilante, and others like him, they aren’t able to prosecute any more cases based on information gleaned by this method.
“It is reckless and dangerous for residents to take matters of law enforcement into their own hands. Not only does it put them directly in harm’s way, it actually hinders our ability to keep our kids safe and protect them from dangerous individuals,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said. “In fact, well-meaning vigilantes not only endanger themselves, but their actions may result in important evidence being suppressed, impeding our ability to properly and effectively do our job.
“Our office vigorously prosecutes crimes against children with our partners at the Michigan State Police, which has resulted in keeping hundreds of child predators out of our communities. I strongly urge the public to leave this work to career professionals.”
Nessel added that her office has charged more than 20 individuals who have targeted Michigan’s kids since January, including a child predator ring in Coldwater. The Office of Michigan Attorney General has also successfully convicted more than 250 child predators since 2011.
The MSP Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force has highly trained, certified law enforcement investigators assigned across the state of Michigan. They work under strict guidelines put in place by the ICAC Task Force to crack down on child predators.
“Our priority is always public safety,” said D/F/Lt. James Ellis, commander of the MSP Cyber Section. “Taking matters into your own hands is dangerous and extremely harmful to a successful prosecution. Digital evidence collection, for example, has strict rules that must be followed for a case to legally move forward. Vigilantes also open themselves up to civil litigation and criminal charges when acting outside of what laws allow.”
https://www.wilx.com/content/news/Police-want-511258251.html
Police want Michigan Youtuber to stop his "vigilante behavior"
By WILX News 10 | Posted: Thu 5:07 PM, Jun 13, 2019
GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WILX) -- Confronting and stopping sexual predators may seem like a good thing to do, and that's just what one West Michigan man is doing.
But according to our affiliate station in Grand Rapids, Michigan State Police want this man to stop his vigilante activity.
"Got your keys. I will break your hand," Zack Sweer, Michigan YouTuber said in one of his videos.
It's incidents like this one that make law enforcement nervous.
The video was posted weeks ago, showing a confrontation with an alleged predator at a local Target that turned physical.
In another incident, the man had a gun.
"I know you have a gun, I do too," Sweer said.
Sweers and his videos have made the news before.
When he was first reported on in 2016, his videos led to seven convictions. He was told to stop then, but clearly he still hasn't gotten the message.
The police asked him why he continued to do this and he said, "Well, I think there is a fear that they won't be prosecuted," Sweer said.
The latest video was posted yesterday and Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel has comment on the situation.
"It actually hinders our ability to keep our kids safe and protect them from dangerous individuals,in fact well-meaning vigilantes not only endanger themselves, but their actions may result in important evidence being suppressed," Nessel said.
Sweers still doesn't seem to believe that his actions are harmful.
"I think the police don't like competition," Sweers said.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:e_Q4RllYCUkJ:https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/lawsuits-against-anxiety-war-vigilante-settled/1085209414+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Lawsuits against 'Anxiety War' vigilante settled
Zach Sweers sued by 2 men after posting video confrontations online
By:
Rachel VanGilder
Posted: Aug 24, 2016 04:33 PM EDT
Updated: Aug 24, 2016 04:33 PM EDT
24 Hour News 8 web staff - GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) -- The two civil lawsuits against the West Michigan man who pretended to be a teen girl online to entice sexual predators have been settled.
The terms of the settlements are protected by a confidentiality agreement, however, a statement from Zach Sweers' attorney said that "no money was paid by any Defendant(s) to settle the claims."
Sweers was sued by Zachary Snoeyink and Alastaire Kolk, who featured in videos Sweers posted online in which he claimed they were sexual predators. They claimed defamation and said Sweers invaded their privacy. Sweers started a GoFundMe account to raise money to hire a lawyer.
"Sweers ... vigorously defended the claims and (was) prepared to file motions to dismiss the lawsuit," the statement from Sweer's attorney Joel Baar's statement. "The parties agree that society would be better served if the unused funds generated by Sweers' Go Fund Me Page were donated to a charity that benefits victims of sexual abuse. As such, a donation will be made to the Children's Assessment Center and the YWCA."
Attorney Ross Plont, who represents Snoeyink and Kolk, said on Wednesday that he could not comment on the agreements other than to say the matters were settled.
Sweers pretended to be a teen girl online with the goal of catching predators' attention. He would arrange meetings with men at which he claimed they expected to have sex with a teen girl. He would then confront them on camera and post the videos on his YouTube channel, Anxiety War.
Snoeyink was among seven men who were charged criminally after Sweers turned over the videos and records of his online conversations to Grand Rapids police. Snoeyink's defense attorney is trying to have the email transcripts that Sweers gave police thrown out as evidence, saying they may have been edited and aren't reliable.
Kolk was not charged.
Authorities have told Sweers to stop trying to lure online predators because it is dangerous and said they won't prosecute any more cases based on information he gives them.
All of the video confrontations have been removed from Sweers' YouTube channel.
