[TCats]

This article relates to the 'Dateline' sting operation aired last Friday and several other times since.

If you read the entire article you come away with a very bad feeling that the Authorities are loathe to prosecute these dangerous perverts. It is as though they are looking for any reason NOT to take any action. Very frustrating and depressing IMO.

[KC_Conspirator]

I saw this and wondered why these peopel were not arrested.

[Skooz]

From the story:

"police say no crimes were committed."

That's why.

You have to actually have been alleged to have committed a crime to get arrested.

[Buffettfan]

Now, now now, we must not be judgemental here. Isn't that the lessons that the Clintons taught us?

[tfecw]

Didn't realize this happened in the same county i live in. I bet they all voted for Kaine...grrr

I think the last bit of the article is the key part. The former prosecutor said it's hard to tie the person to the computer. This is very true, but now we have the question of why a person in someone else's house. Wouldn't that still B&E, or trespassing? If he says he was invited that could tie him to the computer conversation.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I'm confused. I thought they said on the dateline show that the group that assisted NBC was organized exactly to do this type of sting and feed information to police for prosecution. And I thought they provided all the data to the police.

And I thought they said that it was a crime to merely send e-mails like the e-mails that were sent, even if the person you send them to is old enough, if it can be shown you thought they were younger (a law written obviously to allow police to conduct stings).

So I assumed they would be prosecuted under that law.

I told my daughter about that show just to re-inforce why we don't let her use chat rooms.

My wife and I watched that show "on and off" because we couldn't really stand the show but wanted to understand the issue. You would think that some of those people, having appeared on TV, would be experiencing some difficulty.

That one guy they caught twice was scary. I think he's the one who stripped in the garage.

[narby]

Not much difference between these pervs and the pervs in the California School system that want to ask 7 year olds whether they touch their privates too much.

For sure the 9th Circus would let these pervs walk.

[Moral Hazard]

What the heck is Dateline thinking here? Why is the news department performing sting operations? That's attempting to make the news, not report it.

Oh well, I guess they had to do something now that they can't use explosives to blow up cars and pretend it was faulty gas tanks.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

A much better "sting" would be for them to be shot with a .357, not just a camera!

[Tall_Texan]

It's tv ratings month. The sting was actually to get you to watch it. For the pervs, this is more like a "catch and release" fishing show.

[Flightdeck]

I saw that. Those guys were freaks, and for the most part looked fairly normal, which was even freakier.

[OldFriend]

This is how Scott Ritter got away with arranging a meeting with a young girl.

That Ritter continues to enjoy his status as a commentator on various talking head TV shows is disgusting in the extreme.

[John Jamieson]

Arrest actors, are you kidding?

[King of Florida]

When a nude man walks into my living room or my garage with a 12-pack of beer, I've got real problem with that and that looks like a crime to me. Yeah, I've got a problem with that, too.

[skinkinthegrass]

You want; to see ABCNNBC_BS do this, then have 'em "shut it down"....Get "Bubba" and/or "Swimmer" to show-up LIVE...Things I'd love to See. :D

[Alberta's Child]

Law enforcement authorities probably looked at NBC's track record of staging fraudulent news stories and determined that prosecuting anyone in this case was an absolute losing proposition.

If I were a lawyer I could make a very strong case that ANYTHING presented as evidence that was obtained through a media outlet carries an inherent "reasonable doubt" in a criminal court simply because of the source.

[reagan_fanatic]

"You don't understand, Officer - I'm just here to pick up Soon-Yi!"