Posted on 03/27/2006 4:55:53 AM PST by summer
Mugshots: 50 men were arrested after the latest installment of the "Dateline" report
.... We want to warn you some of what you'll read is explicit. parents need to know what their kids can confront when they sit down at the computer.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - A month ago, Dateline launched its third investigation into a growing national epidemic—grown men trolling the Internet, many looking for sex with children. This time, to expose them, we set up multiple hidden cameras in a house in Southern California.
A decoy coaxes the men in, but instead of finding a 12- or 13-year-old home alone, the men looking for sex will meet me.
Here’s an example of the kind of confrontation we’re in for: A 37-year-old, Kurt Lemke, a truck driver, calls himself “haloballfan” online. He thinks he’s here to meet a 13-year-old boy named Dave, but we really send him a decoy photo. During his chat, he makes plans to give the boy oral sex...
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
It's nice to see the MSM doing some good for a change. I especially liked times where the culprit would try to escape then gets tackled by cops and roughed up.
I'll tell you -- Dateline's show last night was an example of what a powerful and important job tv can do in terms of getting crime off the streets. It looked like Grand Central Station, there were so many men lining up to have sex with what they thought was a 12 or 13 year old boy or girl alone in a house. Even the lead dectective was exhausted -- he said he had 15 or 18 agents and they were working round the clock booking these men.
Yes, it was good to see the cops just waiting for these people outside the house. Several of the men tried to run, but they didn't get far.
Also, the ages of these men ranged from 19 - 68. With every age group represented. And, those caught were members of varied racial and economic groups. Unreal what these men were planning to do with a "kid" they thought they'd met online.
Didn't see this one (UW Hockey w/THREE overtime periods absorbed our attention last night; Badgers WON!) but I've seen previous shows they've done.
Very scarey, indeed. Glad my DH is a Computer Engineer. Our kids didn't get away with jack, or wander where they shouldn't have been when they were on-line. DH had us all networked together and we could see what the kids were up to at will. We also limited computer on-line time much moreso than other parents seemed to.
All survived to adulthood with nothing worse than a few downloaded nekkid girly pix found on their computers. ;)
Well, I'll tell you -- they showed how these kind of "chats" get sexually explicit very quickly by the predator. There is nothinig subtle going on here. So, if your kid feels uncomfortable with something a person says online, that's a big clue something's wrong and more could go wrong.
I liked the guy with the turbin and then tried to explain that the law did not apply to him. Go figure!
This is the only worth while news programming coming out of NBC for quit some time.
I never miss one of these predator shows.
Very scary wake up call for parents, that's for sure.
Yes, it was fantastic work by MSNBC. I hope they do it every week, at least. I will watch it again, too.
And, the police were great, too, as well as that other group I already linked to above. Kudos to all.
Yeah, he was unreal -- but what about that guy with the backpack, who already had served time in prison for manslaughter! Could you imagine being a parent and having your kid let a guy like that into your home when you're away? Good lord!!!!!
FYI.
FYI.
I suspect I will get sincerely hammered for this, and accused at the least of being a pederast-sympathizer, or at most, a lurker/stalker/abuser myself.
But I really do not like the government "nabbing" people this way. (Even though MSNBC is driving this, they would not have launched their effort without the clear support of the government--ie, law enforcement working in concert with them). Unless caught in flagrante delicto, to me these people have been treated unfairly. They're guilty of having their weaknesses/pathologies probed and tickled and tempted past the point of no return. They show up, and get arrested not for committing heinous acts, but for our presumption of their willingness to commit such acts.
I know of a local man who, years ago, was asked by a neighbor to use his workshop to cut down his double-barrelled 12-gauge. Why? he wanted to know. The guy responded that he didn't have a good vise, and couldn't find his hacksaw. The man smelled something, and said to the neighbor, This isn't a setup, is it? Because it's technically illegal to cut down a shotgun. No, the neighbor insisted, he just wanted to cut it down to keep in his car, for safety.
They went back and forth, back and forth, the man torn between helping out the neighbor and listening to his instincts. Finally, he relented, letting the man use his workshop.
It was an ATF sting. The neighbor was in trouble, and agreed to set up someone who "might" have been doing illegal modifications. The man had never done anything illegal re guns, as it turns out...but for the condoning of the use of his vise and hacksaw for about ten minutes.
The man lost everything. It was a stone cold setup, and it became not about catching a lawbreaker but not backing down from their gambit.
Same kind of temptation/entreaties could be foisted on any one of us: Can I keep my bullion in your safe? Would you store this deer carcasse for me? I need to park this Ford behind your shed.
In this case, MSNBC and the government are going after a universally reviled group, so little thought is ever given to their constitutional rights. Just because it's a (potential) crime that most of us find repugnant, doesn't mean we should endorse entrapment.
As for the "power of TV," and how it's being made good use of...MSNBC would drop this in a nanosecond if it weren't a ratings horse for them. Never forget: They're whores.
The BATF has a long history of that kind of crap and it's a disgrace. I don't know if they still do that today -- maybe they do.
While I don't know all the details of the sting in this article, and it's possible these people are being improperly entrapped, I don't think that's likely.
For one thing, a sexual or violent crime is a much more serious matter than a technical crime like cutting a shotgun barrel less than 18". So stronger measures seem appropriate to catch these guys and put fear into others who are like them.
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