Police have made multiple warnings to vigilantes. This vigilante ignored the warnings. Instead, this vigilante decided to conduct in actions that not only hurt REAL investigations, he committed crimes in the process.
From the Oakland Co (MI) DA's office
https://www.oakgov.com/Home/Components/News/News/873/2027
Because of speculation in that regard and questions about prior confrontations between Mr. Lee and people he identified as potential sex offenders, we are providing the following information.
Mr. Lee is known to law enforcement and the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office. He was involved in numerous instances where he posed as an underage person and identified potential sex offenders. Mr. Lee would arrange to meet with those individuals and confront them. Mr. Lee would often record and post those interactions and would sometimes bring the information he had to law enforcement.
Mr. Lee’s conduct has never been sanctioned or encouraged by law enforcement or the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office. While identifying potential sex offenders is commendable, we were concerned that such confrontations would result in violence or injury.
In addition, Mr. Lee’s methods often impeded law enforcement’s ability to conduct a proper investigation and gather evidence that would be admissible in court. That meant that some individuals Mr. Lee identified could not be charged with crimes, or that cases against them were dismissed. In two instances, Mr. Lee was investigated for and charged with crimes for destroying property of individuals who were not the target of his “sting” operations....
“We all share the goal of protecting children and removing child predators from our community. One of the first efforts I undertook as Sheriff was to create a unit focused on tracking child predators. However, when private citizens attempt to enter this realm, they often do not know what constitutes criminal conduct versus disgusting or disturbing conduct. It is our job to ensure that our prosecutor has cases that meet the criminal threshold and have evidence that is admissible and can help obtain convictions. We also know that when confronted predators can become violent. We have seen them ram our police cars and fight with our deputies. If anyone has information on who they believe is a predator or they think has crossed the criminal line, we encourage them to share that information with us immediately so that we can work the case to successful conclusion while ensuring operations are conducted with safety in mind,” stated Oakland County Sheriff Michael J. Bouchard.
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