If you are against vigilantes, why use their dubious evidence for an arrest?
YouTube host leads police to arrest suspected sex offender in EG
By Cameron Macdonald - Citizen News Editor Aug 18, 2021 Updated Aug 18, 2021
The Elk Grove police on Aug. 11 arrested a 20-year-old man who allegedly visited Morse Community Park to have a sexual encounter with a minor in a restroom.
“Ghost,” who is a YouTube channel host and the anonymous leader of an self-described movement called, Creep Catching (CC) Unit, announced that their decoy operation led authorities to arrest Timothy Brock of Elk Grove.
CC Unit targets sexual predators online and then releases their video-recorded confrontations with them on YouTube. They also submit evidence to law enforcement in order to have the suspects arrested. The CC Unit in June reportedly led authorities to arrest a suspected sex offender in Roseville.
“The mission is to expose adults who prey on children,” Ghost told the Citizen about the CC Unit’s work. “Get these adults arrested and convicted for their crimes. Change laws to where predators get harsher punishments for their crimes against children.”
During the Elk Grove incident, the CC Unit confronted Brock at Morse Park before the police arrived. Ghost said that he then gave officers the text messages and online chats between the suspect and the decoy who posed as a 13-year-old boy.
“He was on our radar for four months,” he told the Citizen about the suspect.
Brock was arrested on felony charges of communicating with a minor to commit sex offenses, meeting with a minor for purposes of lewd behavior, and attempting to possess obscene matter of a minor in a sexual act. He is currently being held in the Sacramento County Main Jail on a $100,000 bail, according to jail records. Brock is also reportedly scheduled for a settlement conference at the Sacramento Superior Court on Aug. 25.
Elk Grove police spokesperson Hannah Gray confirmed that officers responded to the call at Morse Park and they took the suspect into custody.
“However, we highly discourage this type of activity, due to the propensity for danger,” she said about private groups targeting suspected criminals.
Gray added that her agency advises people to instead contact law enforcement to report any possible or known crimes. She mentioned the work of the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which targets sexual predators online.
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