New York Times article reports that vigilante groups are growing increasingly violent, as we have predicted

It is a very long article, so I won't report it in full here. The full article can be accessed at:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/26/us/pedophile-hunting-violence.html

Online ‘Pedophile Hunters’ Are Growing More Violent — and Going Viral

With the rise of loosely moderated social media platforms, a fringe vigilante movement is experiencing a dangerous evolution.

By Aric Toler and Neil Bedi

Produced by Aliza Aufrichtig, Joyce Ho, Natalie Reneau and Rumsey Taylor

March 26, 2025

A vigilante phenomenon has been playing out on the open web for almost a decade: Content creators in the U.S. pose as minors on dating apps and websites, then target the people who message them. Many of these vigilantes, commonly known as pedophile hunters, were inspired by “To Catch a Predator,” a popular television series that ran until 2007. The “hunters” have copied the show’s format, exposing their targets on social media.

But in the past two years, a growing number have gone a step further and violently attacked the targets in their videos, a New York Times analysis has found.

In one of the most brutal cases, a masked man who referred to himself online as “realjuujika” (real name:Ahmad Al-Azzam)allegedly broke into the home of a 73-year-old man in Pennsylvania last year, then tied him up and beat him with a hammer.

In a video, realjuujika stands over the bloodied man and claims he caught him trying to solicit sex from a 15-year-old boy. He robs the man and films his credit cards, sharing the information with his thousands of followers.

Realjuujika, at one point, turns to the man and says, “You will probably die tonight.” When the footage was streamed online weeks later, viewers cheered the violence.

The man was hospitalized, according to police reports, and needed surgery to stop the bleeding in his brain. The attack was part of a small, but disturbing trend that has spread on social media and attracted millions of viewers.

There have been more than 170 violent vigilante attacks by pedophile hunters since 2023, according to a Times analysis of hundreds of videos and social media posts. The footage shows hunters chasing their targets through retail stores, beating people bloody on public streets and shaving the heads of their targets. In the most extreme cases, people have been hospitalized with serious injuries.

The Times analysis found that at least 22 individuals and groups have inflicted violence in the name of pedophile hunting in the last two years, compared with roughly 40 others who made similar videos without violence. Most of the violent activity started in the past year.

“There has been a notable increase in overt physical violence within these groups,” said Emma Hussey, an Australian criminologist who studied U.S. pedophile hunters at Queensland University of Technology...

Some longtime groups have built larger audiences after turning to violence. Dads Against Predators, the most prolific group analyzed by The Times, was not violent in the majority of its videos when it started in 2020. But after it began posting on Locals three years later, videos showed the group routinely brutalizing its targets, attacking at least 100 people, The Times found.

The group now claims to have hundreds of paying subscribers, and clips from their videos frequently go viral.

“To see early videos, unedited videos, fights, and stuff that will get me banned on social media head to locals!” wrote Joshua Mundy, one of the group's founders, in a Facebook post...

Child predators are some of the most universally reviled people in the country. That has helped pedophile hunters shield themselves from public scrutiny of their actions. Often, the hunters post chat logs that they allege show their targets soliciting sex from people posing as minors, and in some cases law enforcement has worked with them to arrest and prosecute their targets.

But the violent groups are often less interested in working with the criminal justice system. “We don’t count arrests and catches,” Mr. Mundy said in an Instagram post claiming that Dads Against Predators had caused more suicides among its targets than any other group. “We count bodies.”

Law enforcement experts said those groups put bystanders in danger by attacking people in public places and jeopardize criminal cases.

“Attacking someone so you can make money on social media is a crime,” said District Attorney Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe of Chester County, Pa., where the realjuujika attack took place...

In October, students at Assumption University in Massachusetts allegedly lured a 22-year-old man to campus, called him a predator and chased and attacked him when he tried to escape, according to a police report. After reviewing the man’s Tinder messages, officers said the man had thought he was meeting an 18-year-old student, not a 17-year-old, as the students had alleged.

Two weeks later, fraternity members and pledges at Salisbury University in Maryland allegedly posed as a 16-year-old on Grindr, a dating app used primarily by gay men. They invited a man to an off-campus apartment, where they restrained him, called him slurs and broke one of his ribs. The age of consent in Maryland is 16...

In one of the final realjuujika videos, Mr. Al-Azzam, holding a hammer and wearing the same disguise he used during his attacks, recited a list of his motivations that echoed conspiracy theories popular in right-wing circles. He said the government was protecting “sick-minded people” and that presidents had sexually assaulted children. He asked for support from Mr. Ross and Andrew Tate, an online influencer known for his misogynistic views, who is facing criminal charges for sexual misconduct.

To his viewers, he called for action: “You guys need to stand up and get shit done.”...

These platforms gained prominence in recent years, after sustained right-wing outrage over claims of online censorship. Locals was founded after a right-wing personality was banned by its mainstream competitor Patreon for using a racial slur. Rumble, which acquired Locals in 2021, has been backed by prominent conservative figures. Before Vice President JD Vance became a senator in 2023, his venture capital fund was a major investor in the company. His office did not respond when asked if he still had an investment in Rumble...

 In some cases, local officials did not charge them because the people who were attacked declined to press charges or never alerted law enforcement. In others, authorities themselves chose not to pursue charges.

Of the 22 violent groups and individuals identified by The Times, only seven appear to have been criminally charged for their actions, according to a review of police and court records.

Students who allegedly helped orchestrate the pedophile hunting at Assumption University are facing felony kidnapping and conspiracy charges. One of those students was also charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Students at Salisbury University were originally arrested on felony assault and hate crime charges, but most had their charges dropped or reduced to misdemeanor assault and false imprisonment.

Mr. Al-Azzam is facing more than 20 charges across multiple states and is being held on $1 million bail in Pennsylvania. His trial is pending.

But the criminal justice system has not deterred some of the largest groups.

Mr. Carnicom of Dads Against Predators and four other men were charged with a felony offense in Texas for chasing a man in a parking lot and beating him while he was on the ground in September. The attack was livestreamed on Kick. Mr. Carnicom left Texas before charges were filed and has continued to post videos on Locals...

"Midwest Predator Catchers" leader Chase Johnston has an extensive criminal history and is now accused of sexual assault

This Vanilla Ice looking clown is Chase Johnston, yet another common criminal who is trying to gain notoriety as a vigilante. According to this report, Johnston already has served time for drugs and theft, was civilly committed, as well as currently facing charges for assaulting his girlfriend and threatening to kill her family members, and now add a second assault with sexual undertones to the mix. 

https://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/youtube-vigilante-on-mission-to-expose-sexual-predators-faces-his-own-sex-assault-charges

YouTube vigilante on mission to expose sexual predators faces his own sex assault charges - Post Bulletin | Rochester Minnesota news, weather, sports

Contributed / Chase Johnston

ROCHESTER — Chase Johnston began his crusade to hunt down alleged child predators earlier this year.

The Rochester man, 28, taking a cue from the now-defunct NBC show "To Catch a Predator," confronts men who he believes are potential child predators, luring them to a location and filming their responses after being confronted. Each of Johnston's videos have garnered thousands of views as he and his vigilante group confront individuals.

His group, Midwest Predator Catchers - Rochester, aggressively goes after people they believe are trying to lure children in for sex. They pose as children in online forums.

"I got online one day and I think within an hour I had a guy respond and offer me $400 for sex, and when I told him I was 14, he had no cares at all," Johnston told the Post Bulletin. "He just wanted to take advantage of this 14-year-old girl."

Comment after comment on his YouTube videos show signs of encouragement.

"VERY educational and entertaining catch. You guys did well," reads one comment.

"You guys are awesome keep up the great job exposing these creeps," reads another.

But Johnston's and his friend's tactics during these videos differ dramatically from the calm and collected way "To Catch A Predator" host Chris Hansen approached his marks.

Johnston's videos often include threats of violence against the people he's filmed.

"We don't assault them," Johnston said. "We do want to scare them a little bit sometimes, but we don't want to physically hurt them."

Johnston said at least one of the people who comes along for the stings has a license to carry a firearm.

Complaints from targets

In an ironic twist of events, Johnston was charged with sexually assaulting one of the men during a May 2022 confrontation in a Rochester gas station.

The YouTube video on Johnston's channel shows Johnston and his friends berating and threatening a man they accuse of trying to lure a 15-year-old boy for sex. The criminal complaint in that case alleges that Johnston struck the man in the genitals and face.

"I'll never plead to those charges," Johnston said. "I'll take this all the way to trial."

The judge ordered Johnston not to have any contact with minors, according to Johnston.

"I said, 'Well, that's not going to be problem for me, judge. The only person that has a hard time staying away from minors is the alleged victim," Johnston told the Post Bulletin.

The man told law enforcement that he had been chatting electronically with someone he thought to be a 15-year-old male. He told the juvenile he did not want to do anything sexual with him and that they were talking about the juvenile having issues coming out as gay to his family.

In the complaint, a Rochester police officer confirmed that account fairly reflects the content of the exchange of messages.

Johnston, however, insists that the man had sexually explicit conversations with the decoy juvenile. That man, however, has not been charged in connection to any activities related to the video taken by Johnston and his team.

Law enforcement concerns

The Rochester Police Department and Olmsted County Attorney's Office issued a joint statement regarding Johnston's efforts.

"RPD investigators have talked with Mr. Johnston several times and informed him that the best way to file complaints is through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. NCMEC properly handles evidence and works closely with law enforcement," the statement reads in part.

In 2021, RPD received 21 tips from NCMEC and worked on 22 cases with Internet Crimes Against Children, a national network of task forces dedicated to investigating, prosecuting and developing effective responses to internet crimes against children.

"Mr. Johnston’s aggressive nature is also very problematic. For the safety of all parties, RPD strongly discourages confrontational practices like the ones used in the videos," reads a statement from RPD.

Johnston said that law enforcement hasn't done a good job at following up on his accusations against multiple people. He accuses some law enforcement of just not wanting to pursue charges.

"I have a lot of respect for cops and stuff, but their response has not been very good and hasn't been very professional," Johnston said. "They haven't really gone through these videos, and they tell me to just report it the center for exploited children, blah, blah, blah, but it's like, if you guys aren't doing anything about it now when I'm getting these guys to admit to this on tape and to you, what makes me think that anything's going to be done if I simply report it?"

From video to arrest

One of Johnston's sting operations has led to charges. Thirty-year-old Joseph Lee Carlson is charged in Dodge County with a felony for allegedly soliciting someone he believed to be a child. Carlson was the subject of a sting in September 2022 in Dodge Center.

"I'm glad that somebody is finally being held accountable for their actions," Johnston said. "I'm thrilled to find out that my work helped bust this guy."

In the criminal complaint against Carlson, one of the witnesses is alleged to have spit on Carlson.

"Dude, we can turn the (expletive) camera off right now and I'll show you what assault is (expletive)," a man can be heard saying to Carlson in the video.

Johnston also faces a misdemeanor assault charge related to the incident.

However, Carlson faces more severe charges for his part in the incident.

"Text messages submitted to Investigators show the group discussing a number of times that they are a 14-year-old male. Carlson solicits the child for sex explaining that having sex with a 14-year-old is a big fantasy of his that he never gets to complete," Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose wrote in a news release about the incident.

"Carlson stated that he would meet at North Park, positively identify the party and if he was truly a juvenile, then he would turn him away as he did not want to get into any trouble," reads part of the complaint against Carlson.

In the criminal complaint, it is noted that Carlson has a previous conviction as a juvenile for felony second-degree criminal sexual conduct while being armed with a dangerous weapon. Carlson is also facing charges related to possessing child sexual abuse material, as part of an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security.

The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office wants to remind the public that the actions of groups like the Midwest Predator Catchers, regardless of any good intentions, can be dangerous and problematic. Their aggressive behavior towards their alleged suspects and willingness to confront these subjects without involving law enforcement could easily result in someone getting injured or worse. Also some of their tactics can and have resulted in the inability to charge these alleged offenders. If you believe someone is soliciting juveniles, please contact your local law enforcement and let them conduct the investigation.

Investigators allege that they found in Carlson's possession hundreds of images of at least 47 different juveniles in various states of undress and performing sexual acts. Carlson is also charged with trying to solicit two more juveniles. The images depict at least one juvenile that was an infant, according to the complaint.

During a hearing in Dodge County District Court on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022, Carlson's bail was set at $250,000. He is currently in custody at the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center.

The Dodge County Attorney's Office declined to comment about the case and charges.

Problematic investigations

The Rochester Police Records Department is processing a request by the Post Bulletin for all incident reports related to contacts with Johnston in the last six months.

"It is incredibly important for prosecutors that investigations are done by trained forensic investigators," Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem wrote in a statement to the Post Bulletin. "NCMEC and ICAC provide the integrity necessary for successful investigation and prosecutions. Lay persons should report their concerns to the appropriate authorities and allow them to investigate."

Johnston said police departments have told him they don't have the manpower to do these types of stings. That frustrates him as a father of a newborn daughter, he says.

"Somehow I've got the manpower to do that, which makes no sense to me," Johnston said. "So I can't morally stop doing this if there's nobody else doing it."

The legality and ethics behind Johnston's aggressive tactics remains in question.

"It could look like they are purposely raising the heat of the encounter so it looks like a good film," said Dr. David Schultz, law professor at the University of Minnesota and Hamline University, after viewing one of Johnston's YouTube videos. "I thought, 'This has got a Jerry Springer look to it.'"

Schultz viewed a video in which Johnston and his crew accuse a man of trying to meet up with an underage juvenile for sex. In it, people threaten the man and push down his motorcycle.

Schultz said charges against Johnston for his aggressive behavior may be warranted, and that a defense attorney has grounds to get any charges against the men Johnston targets dismissed.

While talking to a juvenile about sex might be considered immoral or wrong, it's not really a crime until further action to initiate actual sexual contact is taken, according to Schultz.

"It looks like they're setting somebody up to harass (and) embarrass the person, to try and expose them and say, 'Here's a potential child molester or a person who is potentially committing sex crimes,' when, in fact, there's no evidence that the person has done anything wrong," Schultz said.

Mistakes on tape

In one video, Johnston and his crew bang on a man's door in the middle of night. They accuse him of trying to have sex with a juvenile. Johnston's crew later learns that they were at the wrong house.

In another video, Johnston's crew accuses a man of trying to seduce a juvenile into a threesome with him and his wife. The man's wife denies any knowledge of the incident. Johnston's crew reassures the woman that her face and her child's face will be blurred. The video is currently uploaded to YouTube with the faces of both the woman and her child clearly visible.

"There's a little bit of a rush that goes along with it," Johnston said. "Trying to figure out what exactly might happen; is this person gonna flip out on me or is he going to pull out a gun or a knife or something like that, and I think about my daughter and her future."

Some people in Johnston's videos mention struggles with mental illness or disabilities, but Johnston said he doesn't let that get in the way.

"Certain people have a sob story, and it kind of gets me in my feelings a little bit and I'll start to feel for that person for a second, but then I remember exactly what they're doing and what they might have done to a child," Johnston said.

One of the subjects of his stings filed a harassment restraining order against Johnston. It was initially denied by a judge, but was subsequently granted following a hearing. The restraining order mentions Johnston uploading videos to social media accusing him of being a pedophile.

Chase Johnston Facebook post

A screenshot of a Facebook post that links to a video of a man who was granted a harassment restraining order against Chase Johnston. The Post Bulletin has edited out the man's name because it is the newspaper's policy not to identify people who have filed restraining orders without their consent.

The man who filed the restraining order did not respond to a request for comment from the Post Bulletin.

Johnston admits that his earlier videos were aggressive and that his crew let their emotions get the best of them, but says they have since become more professional.

"We might make fun of them and clown on them, yell at them a little bit, but we are passionate about what we do and we are trying to serve a community in a way," Johnston said.

His YouTube channel was initially named Prisoners vs. Predators — a reference to Johnston's own personal history that includes drug and theft crimes, and a pending guilty plea for assault — but Johnston said he's a changed man and just wants to do something good in this world.

"We served our time and now we're trying to be productive members of society," Johnston said.

A troubled past

Johnston has a long history of drug and theft charges, and he was civilly committed last year for six months due to his drug addiction.

"I've struggled with heroin addiction on and off since I was about 19 years old," Johnston said. "I'm actively working on staying sober and being a better person."

Johnston is currently facing charges in Olmsted County related to a June 2022 incident in which he allegedly assaulted the mother of his child and threatened to kill her family members.

He has submitted a plea agreement in the case in which he will plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of domestic assault in exchange for other, more serious charges being dismissed. The plea deal calls for him serve probation.

"We got into an argument. The argument became heated and I was upset. I pushed her and caused her head to hit the wall," reads a part of the deal submitted by Johnston.

Johnston told the Post Bulletin that he's being held accountable for his actions, and that he wishes police would do the same for others.

"Me and my girlfriend are very much in love, and we are sticking together through all of this and we're going to come through on the other side stronger than we were before," he said.

Mark Wasson has been a public safety reporter with Post Bulletin since May 2022. Previously, he worked as a general assignment reporter in the southwest metro and as a public safety reporter in Willmar, Minn. Readers can reach Mark at mwasson@postbulletin.com

Michigan vigilante Mark A. Hernandez convicted of misdemeanor assault

Mark A. Hernandez is believed to be associated with Predator Poachers Bay Bay City chapter but I cannot confirnm it at this time. If anyone has this loser's mugshot, send it to iamthefallen1@yahoo.com

https://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw-bay-city/2020/10/youtube-vigilante-in-bay-city-pleads-to-misdemeanor-could-have-charge-dismissed.html

YouTube vigilante in Bay City pleads to misdemeanor, could have charge dismissed

Updated Oct 06, 2020; Posted Oct 06, 2020

BAY CITY, MI — A Bay City man whose vigilante videos on YouTube have gone viral has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor stemming from a confrontation with someone who was recording video of him. He eventually could have the charge dismissed under a sentencing agreement.

Mark A. Hernandez, 28, on Monday, Oct. 5, appeared before Bay County District Judge Mark E. Janer and pleaded guilty to one count of assault and battery. The charge is a one-year misdemeanor.

In exchange for his plea, the prosecution agreed to dismiss a misdemeanor count of malicious destruction of personal property between $200 and $1,000. The prosecution also agreed Hernandez would receive a delayed sentence, meaning that he will effectively be placed on probation for a period of time. If he’s successful on the delay and complies with its terms, the charge to which he pleaded will be dismissed.

Since Feb. 1, Hernandez has posted numerous videos on YouTube of him confronting adult men who he says expected to meet a juvenile boy or girl, akin to the popular Dateline TV segment “To Catch a Predator.” The videos also feature chat logs Hernandez says are of him posing as a minor in discussions with the men as they talk about where and when to meet up.

The charge to which Hernandez pleaded to stems from an incident that occurred about 11:40 a.m. on April 11. At that time, police responded to a dispute in Bay City when a man alleged Hernandez had smashed his wife’s phone as the couple was recording images of Hernandez.

The confrontation followed Hernandez recording a meeting with the couple’s son and posting it on YouTube and social media, they said. The son is not charged with a crime, which is why MLive is not naming him or his parents.

Hernandez told police he approached the truck and recognized its occupants, having previously gone to their house to speak with the father about his son, police reports state.

Judge Janer is to sentence Hernandez at 9:45 a.m. on Nov. 5.

https://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw-bay-city/2020/09/youtube-vigilante-accused-of-smashing-phone-of-woman-who-confronted-him-in-bay-city.html

YouTube vigilante accused of smashing phone of woman who confronted him in Bay City

Updated Sep 02, 2020; Posted Sep 02, 2020

By Cole Waterman | Cole_Waterman@mlive.com

BAY CITY, MI — Earlier this year, a Bay City man began posting vigilante videos online, showing him meeting men he said he had lured by posing online as a minor. He has since posted more than two dozen videos on YouTube in which he publicly confronts the men.

Mark A. Hernandez says he has no plans to stop his activities although he himself is now facing two misdemeanor charges after someone confronted him. He’s accused of assault and battery and of breaking a smartphone.

Hernandez said Tuesday, Sept. 1, the incident and resulting charges “haven’t let that stop me from still exposing these people who meet minors online. I don’t believe I should stop even with the risk of getting in actual legal trouble.”

About 11:40 a.m. on April 11, police responded to a dispute in Bay City, according to reports obtained by MLive and The Bay City Times through the Freedom of Information Act. The man who had called police alleged Hernandez had smashed the caller’s wife’s phone as the couple was recording images of Hernandez.

The confrontation followed Hernandez, 28, recording a meeting with the couple’s son and posting it on YouTube and social media, they said. Thereafter, Hernandez showed up at their son’s work, the couple said.

The couple drove by Hernandez’s house and the wife used her Samsung Galaxy to record footage of it, they said.

“Mark (Hernandez) came outside and approached our vehicle,” the wife told police. “Mark started yelling at (us) and said that we were stalking him.”

As the couple continued driving slowly, Hernandez reached inside their open window, smacked the wife’s phone from her hand, and threw it to the ground, the wife said. Hernandez continued smashing the device, called the woman a slur, and threatened to knock her out, she told police.

Police also spoke with Hernandez, who was still at the scene and said he was live-streaming their interaction with his own device.

“I am the guy that goes around Bay City exposing child predators,” Hernandez told police, according to their reports. He told them he had been in his backyard that morning with his children when he noticed a truck slowly driving down an alley as a woman within it recorded him.

Hernandez told police he approached the truck and recognized its occupants, having previously gone to their house to speak with the father about his son who had appeared in one of Hernandez’s videos.

“The woman kept recording me and saying my name,” Hernandez said, adding he uses an alias online. “They recorded where I live and now were exposing my real name. I grabbed her phone and smashed it. I never touched her; I just smashed the phone.”

Authorities issued a warrant for Hernandez on April 27 and he was arrested on May 31.

Hernandez has since been arraigned on single counts of assault and battery and malicious destruction of personal property between $200 and $1,000. Both charges are misdemeanors, punishable by up to one year and 93 days in jail, respectively.

The son of the couple Hernandez posted a video of is not charged with a crime.

Since Feb. 1, Hernandez has posted numerous videos on YouTube of him confronting adult men who he says expected to meet a juvenile boy or girl, akin to the popular Dateline TV segment “To Catch a Predator.” The videos also feature chat logs Hernandez says are of him posing as a minor in discussions with the men as they talk about where and when to meet up.

While most of the videos were recorded at sites in Bay City, a few were filmed as far away as Ohio.

Hernandez’s YouTube account has 12,700 subscribers as of Sept. 1 and he has continued posting videos after being charged in connection with the April 11 incident.

At least one of Hernandez’s videos has led to criminal charges against the person depicted. Jeffrey L. Bader, 47, is charged in Tuscola County with accosting a minor for immoral purposes and using a computer to commit a crime. Bader’s trial date in Tuscola County Circuit Court is pending.

Hernandez said Tuesday he has removed the video of him confronting the couple’s adult son from YouTube.

He is to appear in court on Oct. 5 to accept or reject a prosecution’s plea offer.

“I have the video of the incident that went down the day they came to my house and breaking the phone and stuff,” Hernandez said. “My lawyer just told me to let him take care of everything and we’ll set the record straight on the 5th of October.”

Hernandez said he has no plans to stop his YouTube activity.

“I started these videos to help spread awareness [that] there are many children that go through this kind of abuse everywhere and don’t have the voice to speak up about it. Maybe [they are] too scared; maybe [they] don’t wanna get someone in trouble. Either way, I feel exposing these ‘predators’ is potentially the voice of all the kids that are never heard,” he said.

Hernandez said he uses dating apps to meet the adults he later confronts in his videos.

“Of course, I never use minors as my decoys,” he said. “I believe if I were to do that who knows what these people would do with pictures of minors. But they contact me and eventually an age is said that is under the legal age and a lot of the time people are fine with still talking after knowing the age and we talk until a time and place is set up to meet.”

In the immediate aftermath of Hernandez’s posting of his first few videos, police discouraged him and others from making such content.

“I’d encourage everyone to not do it,” said Bay City Public Safety Deputy Director Caleb Rowell previously told MLive. “It complicates the investigation. It’s a very dangerous practice to do. I understand why you might want to do it and the motives behind it may be good, but in the end it creates problems for us, with the chain of evidence and us being able to prove our case. It’s just not safe. We’re worried someone might be doing this with good intentions and end up a victim of violence.”

Bay County Sheriff Troy R. Cunningham expressed similar sentiments.

“We warn people against being vigilantes,” Cunningham has said. “Vigilance is a good thing, but vigilantes don’t know who they’re coming up against. People may forget law enforcement officers are wearing vests and duty gear and are prepared for a situation if it turns for the worst. When a citizen is doing it, they’re a lot better off being a good witness, getting a description, and giving that information to law enforcement to let us investigate.”

Civilian-led stings could “cripple law enforcement’s investigations,” the sheriff added.

Hernandez is not facing any charges related to the production of YouTube videos.

Justin Perry, aka "Mr. 17540", arrested for assaulting and unlawful restraint against a woman

I've stated this time and time again, but most of these self-styled "vigilantes" and "Predator Hunters" are criminals themselves. Here we have yet another vigilante arrested for a violent crime. This does not surprise us. 

In 2018, he was arrested for suspicion of posession of CP and criminal use of a communication facility, although the investigation was never fully completed. 

No mercy for shitty neck-tattooed vigilante fucktards!

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/leola-child-predator-vigilante-charged-with-assaulting-restraining-woman-at-his-home/article_66e419de-04b7-11eb-b04f-ffa563823af1.html

 Leola child-predator vigilante charged with assaulting, restraining woman at his home

 DAN NEPHIN | Staff Writer Oct 2, 2020

The Leola man who made a name for himself as a self-styled vigilante by confronting would-be child predators and shaming them on social media has been charged with assaulting and restraining a woman at his home Wednesday.

Justin Perry, 34, grabbed the woman around noon Wednesday, causing her to fall into a coffee table and cut the back of her head, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by West Earl Township police.

Perry also shoved her onto a bed, straddled her, poked her in the head and head-butted her in the rear of the head, according to the affidavit, and blocked her from leaving the room four or five times. 

The woman called for emergency medical services and was treated, but declined to be taken to a hospital. Perry fled after another household member confronted him, police said. He turned himself in Thursday after police issued a warrant for him.

Perry is free on $7,500 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday before New Holland District Judge Jonathan Heisse. 

Perry referred questions to his attorney, Steven Breit.

"There are two sides to every story," Breit said. "We potentially have evidence to show she had motivation behind this. She flat-out told him, 'I can say what I want and they'll believe me.'"

Perry is known as "Mr. 17540" — Leola's ZIP code — for his vigilante activities, though his Facebook page appeared to be down Friday and his Twitter account has not shown any recent vigilante activity.

Earlier this year, Perry said his predator-catching efforts were on hold because of the coronavirus.

From 2018, Perry conducted about three-dozen stings, some of which resulted in criminal charges and at least one conviction of his targets.

Idiots in Ireland & the UK are wanting their registries to be made public. These vigilante scumbags are the reason why

Vigilante douche George Keenan did not like a dose of his own medicing

The BBC exposed a few of these scumbags. It is amazing that any loser believes that these pathetic excuses of humanity are "heroes." Al they have proven, however is that vigilantes are all cowards yet they are prone to violence. Sharon Shanks and George Keenan are among those exposed as filthy scumbags in this BBC report. By the way, one of these vigilante scumbags has been arrested and will be prosecuted, with more to follow. Round these thugs up!

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-43024711

Self-styled 'paedophile hunters' revealed
By Kevin Magee
BBC News NI investigations correspondent

Some of the leaders of self-styled paedophile-hunting groups operating in Northern Ireland have been identified for the first time.

There are increasing concerns about the methods many of the groups use, and their lack of accountability.

The so-called paedophile-hunting groups target people online who they believe are sexual predators.

They confront them and broadcast the encounter live on the internet, then call the police.

There have been more than 100 incidents of that nature reported to police in Northern Ireland, but no-one has been charged as a result and there have been no convictions.

Former senior police officer and child protection expert Jim Gamble warned that some of the tactics used by the groups are criminal.

"Anyone live streaming these incidents is not about the justice of catching someone who represents a threat to children," he said.

"They are about the self-publicity and the self-centred approach about themselves, much more than about making children safer."

All of the groups keep their identities hidden.

'On whose authority?'

BBC News NI approached two of the people involved in setting up the "hunting groups" in Northern Ireland to ask them for an interview.

Sharon Shanks, from south Belfast, is behind the group called Justice Reborn Northern Ireland and she uses the alias Chelsea Lewis.

Ms Shanks declined to do an interview, saying in an online message that she was unhappy that "journalists and news stations have so far called the hunting groups vigilantes".

"Our identity we keep to ourselves so meeting isn't an option," she said.

During one confrontation that she posted live online, Ms Shanks is overheard using explicit offensive language and threats of violence against a man who came across the scene.

When approached by the BBC just after she had broadcast other live footage on Facebook of herself interrogating a man she had alleged was a paedophile, Ms Shanks refused to answer our questions.

We wanted to ask about the methods her secret group used, and on whose authority she had been detaining people who she believed to be paedophiles.

She declined to answer any questions.

Instead, Ms Shanks pulled on a scarf and was driven way at speed.

There are up to 10 different, self-appointed paedophile hunting groups operating in Northern Ireland.

Often they are in competition with one another, but sometimes they join forces.

'Won't answer questions'

One of those who introduced the concept of "paedophile hunting" to Northern Ireland is 34-year-old Belfast man George Keenan.

He uses the alias James SJ O'Neill and was linked to a group calling itself Silent Justice.

One of his targets last August was a man in County Antrim.

Two days after he was confronted, the man took his own life.

His family said they wanted to maintain a dignified silence.

Mr Keenan recently had a public falling out with other paedophile hunting groups in England and, in an expletive filled video, issued various threats of physical violence against them on Facebook.

Mr Keenan declined a request for an interview using his own name and identity.

BBC News NI approached him in west Belfast to ask him on whose authority he was confronting people he thought were paedophiles.

When asked if any of his actions resembled those of a vigilante, he replied: "Are you serious? Get out of my sight, leave me alone.

"Stay away from anybody that I have previously worked with.

"You are harassing people, I am not here to answer your questions.

"You are absolutely disgusting. Get out of my space right now."

Later the same day, Mr Keenan led a group of people to confront BBC investigations reporter Kevin Magee in a coffee shop in Belfast.

Mr Keenan claimed he had been able to mobilise more than a dozen people from various paedophile hunting groups.

For a short time they blocked off Botanic Avenue and published the episode online.

Eyewitness account: 'Terrible, outrageous behaviour'

A mother-of-two has told of her terror when her home was mistakenly surrounded by a group of masked paedophile hunters.

The self-appointed gang surrounded the house in the Springfarm estate in Antrim in January, claiming that a paedophile was living there.

But the group had made a mistake - they had picked the wrong house.

The 34-year-old woman, who asked not to be named, said she was "absolutely terrified" when members of the gang approached her home.

Her 66-year-old mother and two young children, aged seven and three, were in the house with her.

"A crowd of people got out of cars and they started banging and kicking at my front door - one of the women was screaming," she said.

"They were all saying there was a paedophile in the house, but there was no man in the house, just me, my kids and my mother.

"It was terrible, it really was outrageous behaviour - we felt really intimidated.

"One of the children was hiding under the bed and my mother was petrified and shaken afterwards.

"Now she doesn't want to leave the house."

The woman had only recently moved into the house.

'Job for police'

Neighbourhood watch co-ordinator Seamus Davis went to the house when he heard the commotion.

He said: "There were three or four cars full of people.

"I said: 'Look you're in the wrong place' - and they called me a paedophile lover.

"I told them I hate paedophiles as much as anybody else, but this way you are doing is totally wrong - this is a job for the police.

"You are behaving like a bunch of vigilantes."

Alaska vigilante wants his arrest to serve as a deterrent to other vigilantes

I'm skeptical this man feels any real remorse, except maybe remorse at not getting away with it. Hopefully, he'll get the full 25 years to figure it out. 

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2018/01/01/anchorage-man-who-attacked-sex-offenders-says-he-wants-his-story-to-serve-as-a-deterrent/

Anchorage man who attacked sex offenders says he wants his story ‘to serve as a deterrent’
pencil Author: Tegan Hanlon  clock Updated: 3 hours ago  calendar Published 3 hours ago

An Anchorage man who attacked three registered sex offenders last year said he wants his story "to serve as a deterrent" to anyone tempted to turn their pain into violence or take the law into their own hands.

That's what he did in the summer of 2016. He now faces up to 25 years in prison.

"If you have already lost your youth, like me, due to a child abuser, please do not throw away your present and your future by committing acts of violence," Jason Vukovich wrote in a five-page letter sent to the Anchorage Daily News in November.

For the past year and a half, Vukovich's case has moved through the Alaska court system. He agreed to plead guilty to first-degree attempted assault and a consolidated count of first-degree robbery. In turn, prosecutors agreed to dismiss more than a dozen other charges against him as part of a plea deal, according to court records.

Vukovich is now awaiting his sentencing, which is currently scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. However, his attorney has recently requested more time to prepare, so the court date will likely be pushed further into 2018.

In the meantime, 42-year-old Vukovich said his views have transformed since last year. In both the November letter and an interview at the Anchorage jail in December, he said he wants to correct a message he communicated last fall, when he sent another letter to ADN and proposed an unconventional plea deal from his jail cell.

Then, he said he would plead guilty to the 2016 assaults on one condition: that his sentence be no longer than the combined prison terms of his three "alleged victims" — all of them listed on Alaska's public sex offender registry for crimes related to children — plus the sentence given to the man who Vukovich says molested him as a child.

Now, Vukovich says he wants to tell people, "There is no place for vigilante justice in an ordered society."

He said he also wants to deter others from following the path he did. He said he was abused physically and sexually as a child. He never got help and had "no self-worth." He turned to crime and cycled in and out of jail cells for decades.

"I'm far from perfect — a flawed and imperfect individual like everyone else," he said during an interview in a small room in the Anchorage jail. "However, it's important to me that someone else who was born and raised in Alaska who had a similar upbringing doesn't end up with this outcome because quite candidly, it sucks."

Three attacks

In December, Vukovich wore a yellow prison uniform, his arms covered in tattoos, his dark hair slicked back. Three teardrops are tattooed under his left eye; he says they stand for "the three doors of the mind." Above his right eye, there's a Latin phrase, which he said means "fraternity of angels."

Prosecutors say that in June 2016 Vukovich carried a notebook with a list of names, including Charles Albee, Andres Barbosa and Wesley Demarest. Over five days, he entered the homes of the three men, uninvited, and hit them, sometimes with his fists and in the case of Demarest, with a hammer, knocking him unconscious. He also stole from them, taking items including a truck and a laptop, according to a bail memorandum signed by assistant district attorney Patrick McKay.

In an interview last year, Demarest said Vukovich called himself the "avenging angel" for children hurt by abusers.

Vukovich told police that he targeted his victims based on their listings on Alaska's sex offender registry, according to the memorandum. The online registry includes their home addresses, work addresses and convictions.

Vukovich carried out his first attack the day after he got out of jail.

He said he had heard about the three men "through the grapevine," but did not know them personally. He said he felt like he had to confront them.

"I thought back to my experiences as a child and felt the overwhelming desire to act," he wrote in his November letter. "I took matters into my own hands and assaulted three pedophiles."

A history of crime

Vukovich was born in Anchorage in 1975.

He said he never knew his biological father. Around age 4, his mother's husband adopted him and, he said, later abused him.

"Both of my parents were dedicated Christians and had us in every church service available, two or three each week," he wrote. "So you can imagine the horror and confusion I experienced when this man who adopted me began using late, late night 'prayer' sessions to molest me. Also, he beat me with a custom made 2×4."

Vukovich identified his adoptive father as Larry Lee Fulton. A court document filed by Vukovich's attorney in an earlier criminal case also details his childhood of abuse and molestation by "Mr. Fulton." A 1989 Anchorage Daily News article said Fulton was found guilty of second-degree abuse of a minor but received a three-year suspended sentence — meaning he didn't have to serve any active time in a prison cell.

Vukovich wrote that after the sentencing, his family moved to Wasilla and he was homeschooled. He said he received no counseling; no one ever checked in.

"When I was a little kid in my house, if some tatted-up guy would have kicked the door in and beat up the guy that was molesting me, I would have said … 'Yeah! Woo! I knew it! I can't believe it! Thank God,'" he said. "Because nobody cared."

His brother ran away, he said, and later he did the same.

Vukovich's mother could not be reached for this article. According to a letter she sent Vukovich in jail this year, Fulton is dead, his ashes scattered in Alaska.

Vukovich said he moved to Washington state around age 16 with no form of identification. He started to steal to support himself, mostly from gyms where he knew people left their wallets unattended.

"From that point on, I turned into a thief," he said.

He said he was arrested for the first time about five months after he got to Washington. Then again nine months later. He said he worried that if he went to a homeless shelter or somewhere else to get help, they would call his parents and send him home to Alaska. So he kept stealing.

"Being a thief and a liar fit nicely with my lack of self-worth, my silent understanding that I was worthless, a throw away," he wrote in his letter. "The foundations laid in my youth never went away."

Vukovich said he spent later years moving often, following construction jobs. If he got laid off, he would return to stealing.

"Time and again, my choices reflect a lack of concern for myself and others," he wrote. "Many, many nights I simply wanted to die."

According to court documents filed in Alaska, Vukovich has a criminal history in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and California. Vukovich said he moved back to Alaska about a decade ago.

Here, he has been convicted for a string of charges including theft, possession of a controlled substance and assaulting his then-wife. Asked in December about the 2008 assault charge, he denied abusing his wife or their two children. Efforts to reach her were unsuccessful.

"She and I probably had a couple of wrestling matches," Vukovich said.

'A simple man'

Vukovich described himself as "a simple man."

"I'm a complete and utter failure by worldly standards, but I've learned a lot," he said in the jail interview.

His attorney, Ember Tilton, said he believed Vukovich should be under some type of correctional supervision "for a very long time," receive treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and participate in a program for violent offenders. He did not believe his client should be treated like a number and handed a "cookie-cutter" sentence.

"I don't think he needs to be punished," he said. "He's already been punished. This whole thing started out as the punishment of a child who didn't deserve to be treated in that way."

When people don't have the opportunity to address childhood issues, he said, they don't behave well. Vukovich certainly didn't, but he needs help, he said.

"The cycle will continue in society, not just for Mr. Vukovich, but for others if we can't do something to stop it," he said.

McKay, the prosecutor in the case, said Friday it was not be appropriate for him to comment on Vukovich's letter or the upcoming sentencing at that time.

Demarest, one of the men Vukovich attacked, said that he would prefer it if Vukovich "is not walking around while I'm alive."

Demarest said he has a lasting traumatic brain injury. It's hard for him to string words into sentences. He lost his job. He can't pay his rent.

"It just pretty well destroyed my life," he said. "So, he got what he wanted I guess."

Vukovich said he did not intend to injure Demarest as seriously as he did and "regrets that deeply."

He said he hopes one day to have some freedom, but what's important to him is to share his story so people avoid the "pitfalls" and "traps" he walked into when he channeled his pain and hate into crime. He advised people who have suffered abuse to talk to someone who loves them, not to act out.

"I began serving my life sentence many, many years ago, it was handed down to me by an ignorant, hateful, poor substitute for a father," Vukovich wrote.

"I now face losing most of the rest of my life due to a decision to lash out at people like him. To all those who have suffered like I have, love yourself and those around you, this is truly the only way forward."

The judge needs to give this wannabe ax murderer the ax

Note this is the SECOND time is waste of humanity assaulted someone on the registry.

http://www.hudsonstarobserver.com/news/crime-and-courts/4363940-hudson-man-charged-attacking-sex-offender-ax

Hudson man charged with attacking sex offender with ax

By Mike Longaecker on Nov 22, 2017 at 4:15 p.m.

Authorities allege a rural Hudson man on Tuesday attacked a sex offender for the second time since 2016 — this time going after a convict with an ax.

The suspect, Brad A. Couet-Kamrath, alleged broke down the door of a sex offender’s apartment, then struck him with the blunt end of an ax, according to a criminal complaint. Prosecutors charged Couet-Kamrath with three felonies in connection with the Nov. 21 incident: first-degree recklessly endangering safety, aggravated battery and bail jumping. He’s also charged with misdemeanor criminal property damage.

According to the complaint:

St. Croix County sheriff’s deputies were called at 9:27 a.m. to 1102 County Road A in Burkhardt, where a man, later identified as resident Brandon Langel, reported someone broke into his apartment and hit him in the back of the head with an ax. A deputy examined Langel’s head and found a 3-inch wound matching the approximate size of an ax’s blunt end. Langel told the deputy he was sleeping at the time of the assault.

The deputy went to another unit in the complex that appeared to have fresh damage on its exterior wall — including a hole similar in size Langel’s wound.

A man, described as loud and aggressive, answered the deputy’s knock on the door and stepped into the hallway. The man, later identified as Couet-Kamrath, had a bandaged hand, smelled of alcohol and told the deputy to take him to jail.

After bringing him to a squad car, the deputy returned to the room and found an ax inside the apartment with blood on the handle.

Though he didn’t initially talk with authorities about the incident, Couet-Kamrath told the deputy “I know this is already a felony but I want to point out I hit him with the dull side, not the sharp side of the ax” while being driven to jail.

Couet-Kamrath, who recorded a 0.29 blood-alcohol level at the jail, also made remarks about how nothing being done about sex offenders living in his building angered him.

John Kucinski, an attorney with the state’s public defender’s office, shed light on those remarks during Couet-Kamrath’s initial court appearance Wednesday. Kucinski alleged Langel had harassed Couet-Kamrath’s girlfriend and that he “couldn’t take it anymore.”

The incident was the second time Couet-Kamrath was charged with assaulting a sex offender at the complex. The first incident occurred Aug. 11, 2016, when he allegedly punched an offender Couet-Kamrath accused of leering at teenage girls. In that incident — for which he was charged with felony substantial battery — Couet-Kamrath allegedly punched a man with an open hand. A criminal complaint in that case states the man told Couet-Kamrath, “If you need to, go ahead,” just before the punch.

Couet-Kamrath was convicted of misdemeanor battery in that case and was sentenced to a year on probation.

St. Croix County Circuit Court Judge Eric Lundell set Couet-Kamrath’s cash bond at $5,000. He’s due in court again on Dec. 1.

Thug jailed for attacking sex offender — weeks after boasting about cushy life in prison

This guy has to be seriously mentally ill. First, he attempted to rob a liquor store in a " zebra print onesie" (if you don't know what that is, CLICK HERE), now he attacks a guy based on faulty information. Also, check out the pics. Does he really have "Dove Soap" tattooed on his fingers?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3064730/thug-jailed-for-attacking-sex-offender-weeks-after-boasting-about-cushy-life-in-prison/

Thug jailed for attacking sex offender — weeks after boasting about cushy life in prison

JAIL BOAST YOB CAGED AGAIN Thug jailed for attacking sex offender — weeks after boasting about cushy life in prison
Jack Brooks, 24, was last month pictured in his comfortable cell with Sugar Puffs, a Sony PlayStation and a CD player

11th March 2017, 2:59 am

A THUG who dropped a TV on a sex offender’s head has been jailed again — just weeks after The Sun published pictures of him boasting about his cushy life in prison.

Jack Brooks, 24, who was released on licence, was last month shown in his comfortable cell with Sugar Puffs, a Sony PlayStation and a CD player in Lancaster Farms prison.

He posted the snaps on Facebook while locked up for armed robbery in February 2015.

Brooks was hauled before the courts again after admitting assault causing actual bodily harm on February 3 while on parole at a hostel in Accrington, Lancs.

Prosecutor Alex Mann said Brooks claimed he assaulted the victim as he had heard he raped a child, he was a “dirty b******” and he thought he deserved it.

Alaskan Vigilante THUG and career criminal Jason Vuckovich attacked three registrants. So why did it take so long to get a Mugshot out?

That's a good question. It took a couple of weeks to get one out. He attempted to kill 3 folks but at most he's facing 30 years. He needs life without parole.

http://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2016/07/27/man-charged-with-assaulting-3-people-in-anchorage/

Man charged with assaulting 3 in Anchorage after finding addresses on sex-offender registry
 Author: Tegan Hanlon   Updated: July 28   Published July 27

A man charged with using a hammer to attack a registered sex offender in Anchorage last month now faces additional charges for assaulting two other men listed on the public sex-offender registry.

According to a recent bail memorandum, Jason Vukovich, a self-styled "avenging angel" according to one of the victims, carried a notebook with a list of names, including Charles Albee, Andres Barbosa and Wesley Demarest. Over five days in June, he entered the homes of the three men, uninvited, and hit them, sometimes with his fists and sometimes with a hammer. He also stole from them, said the bail memorandum signed by assistant district attorney Patrick McKay.

Vukovich told police that he targeted his victims based on their listings on Alaska's sex-offender registry, the memo says. The online registry includes their home addresses, employer addresses and convictions.

Police found Vukovich and his notebook inside of a gray Honda Civic early June 29 shortly after police said he attacked Demarest with a hammer. Vukovich was arrested and taken to the Anchorage jail where he remained Wednesday, nearly a month later. He faces 18 charges for assault, robbery, burglary and theft.

In an interview earlier this month, Demarest said his attacker called himself the "avenging angel" for children hurt by abusers.

A letter from jail

Vukovich's attorney declined to comment on the case earlier this month, but in a two-page letter signed in pencil and sent from jail a week ago, Vukovich said he himself suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of his adoptive father.

Vukovich wrote in the letter that he could not talk about the current charges he faced, but expressed shame and regret about some of his past behavior. He wrote about his father who adopted, beat and molested him as a child.

"After this adoption took place, I was beaten with 2x4s custom made for the purpose of inflicting pain or belts etc.," he wrote. "Also, I suffered through repeated molestation at his hands."

Vukovich identified his adoptive father as Larry Lee Fulton. A 1989 Anchorage Daily News article said a Larry Lee Fulton was found guilty of second-degree abuse of a minor but received only a three-year suspended sentence from then-Superior Court Judge Karl Johnstone. Johnstone ordered Fulton to stay away from his victim, who was unnamed. Vukovich wrote that Fulton "returned immediately to the home and isolated me out in Wasilla."

A court document filed by Vukovich's attorney in an earlier criminal case also details his childhood of abuse and molestation by "Mr. Fulton."

"What I can say at this time is that after being physically and mentally abused by a predator, my life was forever changed," Vukovich wrote in the letter. "I literally gave my own existence no value or concern. I became a thief and a liar and went on to make many poor choices throughout my life."

In closing his letter, Vukovich wrote that children "should be able to play in the streets and parks and go to church without the threat of pedophiles lingering around them."

"My own heart may have been broken long ago," he wrote, "but with all my being I support every child in pursuit of their dreams."

In asking for strict bail conditions this week, the prosecutor noted that Vukovich has been convicted for a string of charges including fraud, theft, possession of a controlled substance and assault. Vukovich most recently got out of jail on June 24. Police say he assaulted Albee the next day.

Three assaults

About 9:30 a.m. June 25, Albee answered a knock on his door and an unknown man walked in, according to the bail memorandum against Vukovich. The intruder told Albee to sit on his bed and slapped him in the face multiple times. He said he was there because Albee was a registered sex offender. Albee said the man had a notebook with a list of names, the bail memorandum says.

Albee was convicted in 2003 of second-degree abuse of a minor, according to the registry.

The intruder stole items from Albee's home and left, the prosecutor's memo says. Albee described him as a white man with shoulder-length dark hair who wore a black leather jacket and baseball cap, according to the memo.

Within 48 hours, Barbosa answered a knock on his door in South Anchorage about 4 a.m. on June 27. A white man in a dark jacket and baseball cap asked if his name was "Barbosa." When he said yes, the man threatened him with a hammer. The man entered his home with two women, the memo says.

"The male made Barbosa sit in a chair and told him he was there because of Barbosa's crimes," the memo says. "The man called him a 'pedophile,' punched Barbosa in the face several times, threatened to 'bash in his dome' with the hammer, and stated that he was there to collect what Barbosa owed."

Barbosa was convicted of a charge brought in 2014 of possession of child pornography, according to the sex-offender registry. The charges against Vukovich say that Vukovich and one of the women stole several items from Barbosa's apartment, including his truck, while the other woman recorded it on her cellphone.

Then, on June 29 around 1 a.m., Demarest woke up to his roommate alerting him that someone had just smashed their Spenard home's window. A man with shoulder-length hair and a black leather jacket stood behind the roommate with a hammer, ordering him to leave, the memo says.

[Anchorage man says an attacker who called himself the 'avenging angel' broke into his home and assaulted him with a hammer]

The man told Demarest to get down on his knees and lie on the bed. When Demarest didn't comply, the man hit him in the head with a hammer, knocking him unconscious. He stole several items, including a laptop computer, and left.

In 2006, Demarest was convicted of attempted sexual abuse of a minor.

Demarest woke up in a pool of blood on June 29. His roommate had called 911. Soon, police found Vukovich nearby, in his car with another person, a notebook, a hammer and several stolen items. The names of Albee, Barbosa and Demarest were all listed in the notebook, the memo says.

Vukovich's next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

The Problems Facing the New Breed of Vigilante "Pedophile" Hunters

The problem is that most vigilantes are criminals who engage in illegal activity on a regular basis.

http://www.vice.com/read/paedophile-vigilante-dangers-murder-uk

The Problems Facing the New Breed of Vigilante Pedophile Hunters
By Matt Broomfield
May 19, 2016

Bringing pedophiles to justice might seem like a pretty black-and-white moral issue. But when you have neo-Nazis and drug barons on one side and innocent or psychologically vulnerable men on the other, the waters become a little murkier.

Yesterday, a vigilante pedophile hunter was jailed for life for stabbing an innocent man to death. In a seemingly typical ploy, 42-year-old Darren Kelly was lured to a property in Pitsea, Essex by a 15-year-old girl. But two things went wrong. Firstly, as a spokesperson for Essex Police makes clear: "Mr. Kelly thought he had been speaking to a woman [the 15-year-old girl's mother]. There was no evidence he was interested in underage girls."

Secondly, rather than a dressing-down on camera, Kelly received a beating at the hands of Chris Carroll and three teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons. Carroll, 20, then stabbed him with a hunting knife and fled the scene, but forensic detectives pinned him to the crime. Carroll will serve 21 years for murder, but his co-defendants were released without charge.

Anti-pedophile activism has been associated with illegality and violence in the past, and has been practiced by some of society's more unsavory characters. In the 1970s, for instance, the National Front picketed meetings of the Paedophile Information Exchange, and it was the NF, the British National Party, and the English Defence League that led protests in 2014 against the sexual abuse of 1,400 children in Rotherham—the fact the perpetrators were British-Pakistani Muslim men no doubt being a contributing factor.

In 2003, 60-year-old Scottish crime boss Maggie "Big Mags" Haney was sentenced to 12 years for running a drug-dealing ring which sold four-figure sums of heroin daily out of a base known as "Haney's Hotel." Before that arrest, the grandmother attracted headlines as a militant campaigner against child grooming on her Stirling council estate.

Other vigilante campaigns are less carefully-orchestrated. In 2000, an innocent man, Iain Armstrong, was targeted because he was wearing a similar neck-brace to a convicted sex offender. The same year, pediatrician Yvette Cloete was hounded from her home by impassioned but somewhat confused protesters. Bijan Ebrahimi, 44, was registered as disabled and unable to work when he arrived in Britain as a refugee in 2013. But when he photographed children vandalizing his hanging baskets, Bristol police took him into custody, carting him away in front of a crowd chanting: "Pedo, pedo."

Mr. Ebrahimi was soon released without charge. The night of his release, he was beaten, dragged from his home, and set on fire by his neighbor Lee James. James is serving life for his murder, and two police officers were imprisoned for deliberately ignoring a string of panicked phone-calls from the victim.

A more recent wave of anti-pedophile activists have been taking the fight from the streets to the internet. These vigilantes set up an online honey-trap, posing as underage children and arranging to meet adult men, before bursting out to confront them with a video camera. Many of those involved say they are themselves survivors of abuse.

The trend was popularized by 34-year-old vigilante Stinson Hunter, who started confronting alleged pedophiles in 2012 "to make waves and get parents, the government, and people who can change things talking." He feels the Carroll murder was an inevitable tragedy, as multiple copy-cat vigilantes have sought to emulate his work for less honorable reasons.

"It's getting out of hand," Hunter says over the phone, his voice rising with emotion. "It's heartbreaking. This guy got murdered, and for what? Because a bunch of muppets wanted a fast track to fame and to look cool in front of their mates."

Hunter says he "always talks to [his targets] like they're my best friend." While this might be stretching the point a little—friends don't often hit other friends with cars, which is what happened to Hunter when he went to confront a target in Warwickshire—he has certainly never laid hands on any of his subjects.

Other YouTube warriors are less pacifistic. Last year, a member of a group called "NWI Nonce Busters" was jailed for head-butting a man who thought he was arranging to meet a 14-year-old girl. His target lost his front teeth and 12 months of freedom, after a judge found him guilty of grooming. ("NWI" indicates a link to the "North West Infidels," one of the dominant neo-Nazi groups currently active in England, whose members have been imprisoned for moving cocaine across the north of the country.)

Nor are head-butts the worst of it. Michael Duff killed himself after being confronted by a group known as True Justice, and Gary Cleary committed suicide following an altercation with Leicestershire vigilantes Letzgo Hunting.

In a well-publicized case, Michael Parkes hanged himself while out on bail after being entrapped by Stinson Hunter. At the time, Hunter "accepted no responsibility" for Parkes' death, and he remains remorseless: "Yeah, a guy killed himself after talking to me, but he made his own choices."

But there is more than one way to catch a predator. Groups such as Dark Justice, Online Predator Investigation Team (OPIT), and Public Justice PHL (PJ-PHL, formerly known as Paedophile Hunters London) position themselves as the Co-ops of the crowded pedophile-hunting market, claiming to adopt a more ethical approach to extra-judicial crime-fighting.

"Shouting, 'Give me your fucking phone, you fucking nonce,' doesn't get you anywhere," says Jay, a member of PJ-PHL's two-man team. "The minute you attack these people it becomes a different kind of crime. You turn them into a victim."

Stinson Hunter pours scorn on groups who work with the police, and says he releases his videos before trial because his goal is raising awareness, not custodial sentences. (This contradicts his position in a 2013 Channel 4 documentary, where he wept with joy after securing his first conviction.) But all of these second-generation vigilante organizations withhold their video footage until the relevant court cases are closed, saying they prefer securing convictions to hogging the limelight.

"Everyone, including child abusers, has the right to a fair trial," says Callum, a member of Dark Justice. His team are advised by practicing solicitors and barristers, as well as human rights experts, and he claims to have secured 48 arrests and 22 convictions. (Stinson Hunter has racked up over 50 convictions.)

"Often, we don't release videos at all," says Brendan Collis of OPIT. "We get the evidence, get them prosecuted, and then release their details." His teenage daughter Leah was groomed by a 40-year-old man, who then abused her in a hotel room. Since that scarring attack, he and his daughter (who's now of age) have used old photos of Leah to entrap sexual offenders.

All of these groups rightly point to the failure of courts and police to adequately tackle sexual crime. "They need more funding, and they need more training," says PJ-PHL's Jay. He thinks a targets-driven culture forces police to focus on crimes that are easier to convict. Fewer than ten percent of child sex offenses in the UK result in a conviction.

But though all three organizations vehemently condemn Carroll's attack, no one seems sure how to stop a repeat of the Kelly murder. "That's like asking if the Loch Ness monster is real," shrugs Callum of Dark Justice. "No one knows." Brendan of OPIT doesn't think people will ever stop taking the law into their own hands: "Even the most placid of people will react. [Carroll and his co-defendants] might not have killed anyone, had they not been blinded by anger."

A house that was firebombed and graffitied after it was revealed a convicted child abuser lived inside. Photo courtesy of Online Predator Investigation Team

A spokesperson for the National Crime Agency's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command argues that amateurish vigilante action could have a number of other "serious consequences," including "the compromise of ongoing investigations into pedophile networks, abusers harming a child if they feel threatened, and individuals being mistaken for offenders."

American statistics also suggest that around 90 percent of child sexual abuse victims know their attacker beforehand, rather than meeting them online. Even acknowledging the failings of the police and setting aside the issue of knife-wielding watchmen, it feels hard to be sure that vigilantes like Stinson Hunter and his successors are doing more good than harm.

Charities such as Circles, which provide sex offenders with small support networks, exemplify a more positive model for reducing rates of child sexual abuse. Speaking in 2013, Circles UK CEO Stephen Hanvey said: "Demonizing such serious offenders, even given the awful things they have done, renders them less safe, and less inclined even to attempt to lead offense-free lives. It has to be more about supportive vigilance than mere vigilantism." (A spokesperson for Circles told VICE they could not comment specifically on the issue of vigilantism.)

Online Predator Investigation Team have provided photos (above) of a firebombed car and a house daubed with graffiti. The property was targeted after the vigilante group revealed the identity of its inhabitant, a man convicted of sexually abusing a child. "There was a child in that house," says Brendan. "Who's to blame? The pedophile? Us? Or both?"

The names of vigilantes have been changed at their request.

Are you mentally ill & thinks society hates you? Just use the registry, attack an RSO and be a "hero."

Personally, I think anyone who attacks us just because we are on some government hit list is mentally ill. I'm willig to bet the polesmokers over at NPFP will actively recruit this chump. He'd fit right in with the rest of their mentally ill crew.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/lake/os-man-arrest-sex-offender-hammer-attack-20160308-story.html

Mentally ill man arrested after hunting down sex offender with hammer, deputies say
Mar. 8, 2016

CLERMONT — A convicted sex offender fended off an attack from a man wielding a hammer and "acting really nervous and sweating" who rang his doorbell Monday night, reports show.

Bruce Babchyck, 54, opened the door of his Jardim De Largo Street home at around 9:30 p.m. to a man who allegedly lunged at him at him with the hammer, deputies said.

Babchyck, a retired Navy officer who was found guilty in 2014 of downloading child porn on a government computer, fought back and pushed back the man enough to close the door. He told authorities he then heard several loud bangs on his door and several more in the driveway where his car was parked.

When deputies found the suspect, Ian Saum, 26, he told them he looked up sex offenders in the area and tracked down Babchyck's residence, records show. He told authorities he thought the attack would "vindicate him of his wrong doings," an arrest report said.

Deputies found several large dents in Babchyck's front door, which appeared to have been caused by a hammer, officials said. They also found three deep scratches to the driver's side window of his vehicle.

Saum was jailed and is facing charges including burglary and criminal mischief.

He has been arrested in Orange and Lake counties for charges including disturbing the peace, resisting officers, larceny and battery.

He was shot by Lake County deputies Jan. 23, 2014, after taking a carving knife into the street and cutting himself with a "zombie" look. Officials said they were forced to shoot after Saum moved toward deputies and refused to drop the weapon.

"He's mentally ill and should be in a hospital," said his mother, Jackie Taylor, as she broke into tears. "This is what can happen because he's not mentally stable and shouldn't be living out in society. I just want him to get the help he needs. I don't want him to hurt anyone."

Taylor said Saum has been admitted to several facilities including a state hospital to treat his schizophrenia. He was released from a state mental-health facility last month after being involuntarily committed under the state's Baker Act.

She said her son constantly hallucinates and feels paranoid, which was part of the reason behind him attacking Babchyck. Taylor said Saum had been saying he feels society hates him.

"I've tried everything and don't know what to do," Taylor said.

Saum called his brother after the attack and told him what happened. His mother reported the crime to deputies.

"How sad is it that I feel he's safer in jail? What kind of mother wants to say that?" Taylor questioned. "He's the most loving, giving person. I just want him to get better."

Idaho vigilante thug Bradley Houser gets a slap on the wrist from brutally beating a 69-year old man

A brutal beating and this guy gets to go some bullshit diversion program? If he beat a homosexual for being gay, he would have had the book thrown at him.

http://magicvalley.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/man-sentenced-for-felony-battery-on-registered-sex-offender/article_005bfffa-a970-11e3-a0cc-0019bb2963f4.html

Man Sentenced for Felony Battery on Registered Sex Offender
7 hours ago  •  By Alison Gene Smith alismith@magicvalley.com(0) Comments

Police: Men Broke into Hotel, Beat up Sex Offender

TWIN FALLS • Police say two men broke into a hotel room and beat a man who is a registered sex offender. Read more

TWIN FALLS - A man convicted of felony aggravated battery for beating a 69-year-old man was sentenced Monday in Twin Falls County District Court.

Bradley Houser, 35, was sentenced to the state's retained jurisdiction program. He will attend the Correctional Alternative Placement Program through the Idaho Department of Correction.

After the program, a judge can either put Houser on probation or send him to prison for an underlying sentence of three to 15 years.

Houser was also ordered to reimburse the county public defender's office for $500 and was ordered to pay victim's restitution of $1,257.44.

Police said Houser beat the man because he is a registered sex offender.

A police report by Twin Falls police officer Samir Smriko gives this account:

Just before 10:30 p.m. Aug. 23, police went to the Super 7 Motel at 320 Main Ave. E. following a battery call.

As police entered the hotel room they saw Rick Perkins, 69, washing blood off his head and arms. Perkins had a 2-inch gash on his forehead and multiple cuts in other places.

Perkins told police that at about 10 p.m., two men came to his door and threatened him. Perkins recognized one from a previous encounter. The men said they were going to beat him up because of a past child sex abuse case.

In 2008, Perkins was convicted on six counts of lewd conduct with a minor younger than 16. He was sentenced to three years in prison and made parole in November 2011.

Perkins told police two men who smelled of alcohol initially left his room because other people were around but soon returned, closed the door behind them and started beating him.

The beating lasted for about 10 minutes. As he spoke to officers, Perkins grabbed his side in pain several times.

Paramedics arrived, and Perkins declined to be taken to a hospital but was informed he would need stitches on his head.

Police later found Houser in the 200 block of Alexander Street but couldn't locate the other man.

Houser was extremely intoxicated and had to use a fence to hold himself up, police said. He told them he and another man whom he didn't know went to the hotel and Perkins swung at them.