Showing posts with label Michigan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michigan. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Robert Wayne Lee, aka Boopac Shakur, had interfered with legitimate criminal investigations and had committed crimes before his murder

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.

Saturday, June 15, 2019

Michigan Attorney General and State police issue warnings to vigilante scumbag Zach Sweers to stop his repulsive behavior

Douchebag with a very punchable face is on the defensive after warned by the Michigan Attorney General's Office.

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.