Just about everyone is familiar with how the internet sting got started. The internet sting was started by a vigilante “justice” group called “Perverted Justice”, a group that has never been influenced or affiliated with “law enforcement” or the “justice” system. However, they still managed to infiltrate “law enforcement” agencies throughout the country thanks to the help of MSNBC’s “To Catch a Predator” series. What people are unaware of is that “Perverted Justice” also has been accused of harassment, intimidation, criminal conspiracy, evidence tampering, entrapment, and etcetera; etcetera; etcetera. The very founder of this organization Von Erck in 2007 was accused of inducing the commission of a felony from a suspect and even though probable cause was found, he was never arrested because of the fact that a minor was not involved! How is it possible that someone can get convicted of soliciting sex from an imaginary minor but when the imaginary minor is suspected of being guilty of soliciting the commission of a crime, “she” is not even arrested? I am not going to continue talking about “Perverted Justice” because it will probably just give them an excuse to start harassing me and use their affiliation with MSNBC to start spreading lies about me. I would however like to add that this organization also claims that they conduct their “investigations” in minor oriented websites when in reality are performed in ADULT environments. The very name of this “organization” makes me sick to my stomach because the “justice” being sought after is NONEXISTANT to say the least and PERVERTED at best because the real predators are still at large.
As far as the television series “To Catch a Predator”, no new episodes are being filmed because of an incident that happened in Terrell, Texas where a former Kaufman County District Attorney named Louis Conradt committed suicide while his house was being raided by “law enforcement” to serve a warrant for soliciting a “Perverted Justice” decoy for sex. All other suspects that were arrested were released because of the incident since it was proven that Conradt was solicited and induced to commit the “crime”. As a result, Conradt’s sister filed a $105 million wrongful death suit against NBC which she won. So the first question I would like everyone to ask themselves is why does it take someone dying for everyone to get suspicious about issues of entrapment? Second, is the subject matter so “horrifying” that we lose our capacity for reasoning and logical thinking and do not care that someone’s life is being ruined as long as we are ok?
In Florida (as well as some other states), the defendants arrested in these internet stings started to receive a break because attorneys realized that these people could not get convicted under the impossibility doctrine. These suspects were going free because of the simple fact that minors were not “victimized” in any way so it was impossible for them to be convicted of the crimes. You can only imagine how furious “law enforcement” agencies must have been to be spending all their money and resources on something that was not working. Therefore, the “law enforcement” officials wrote to the legislators to change the statute to suit the failing method. However, I have no idea how they were successful in changing the statute on child solicitation to incorporate the word “believe” into it because the United States Supreme Court decided a long time ago that statutes were not to be changed just to suit a failing method of enforcement.
Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369 (1958)
Entrapment occurs only when the criminal conduct was "the product of the creative activity" of law enforcement officials.
In Sorrells v. United States, 287 U. S. 435, this Court firmly recognized the defense of entrapment in the federal courts. The intervening years have in no way detracted from the principles underlying that decision. The function of law enforcement is the prevention of crime and the apprehension of criminals. Manifestly, that function does not include the manufacturing of crime. Criminal activity is such that stealth and strategy are necessary weapons in the arsenal of the police officer. However,
"A different question is presented when the criminal design originates with the officials of the government, and they implant in the mind of an innocent person the disposition to commit the alleged offense and induce its commission in order that they may prosecute."
…But to look to a statute for guidance in the application of a policy not remotely within the contemplation of Congress at the time of its enactment is to distort analysis. It is to run the risk, furthermore, that the court will shirk the responsibility that is necessarily in its keeping, if Congress is truly silent, to accommodate the dangers of overzealous law enforcement and civilized methods adequate to counter the ingenuity of modern criminals. The reasons that actually underlie the defense of entrapment can too easily be lost sight of in the pursuit of a wholly fictitious congressional intent.
The truth is we have lost sight of entrapment because of the media fire that rages around the publicity created by the internet stings and the lies that we are being told in the process. The purpose of the child solicitation statute is not for “law enforcement” officials to set up camp in an undisclosed location, set up fake profiles on ADULT websites, and wait for some obviously lonely and confused individual to stumble into their trap and induce the commission of the “crimes”. The purpose of the child solicitation statute is to give the government the ability to punish the people that surf minor oriented web sites with the intent to groom, seduce, and solicit minors. The very premise that “law enforcement” officials need in order for these internet stings to get convictions is to make the public believe that these people had set out to do wrong and were in the process of doing it when they were “caught”. So far, they have been successful in this mission simply because the media prints the lies that they tell and the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Sherman has been ignored letting them change the law to suit them. Therefore, we are stuck with these internet stings the way they are until the right people finally realize that a human life should never be used for the purpose of making money and getting television ratings to soar.
