A Jefferson man recently found himself being videoed in the front yard of his home and questioned about his alleged sexual communications with an 11-year-old girl on social media.
“I swear to God, I didn’t know she was 11,” the 38-year-old man can be heard on video as he is questioned by a member of the “Bikers Against Predators Inc.” on Oct. 22.
The heavy-set man, wearing a black tank top and blue shorts, told BAP member Robert Bloom that the girl texted him first.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office sent a deputy to the home and took the man’s phone.
The incident was the second in recent weeks where civilians target alleged sexual predators by using social media to pose as a child. They visit the person if the communications become sexual in nature, especially if the suspect wants to meet the child. In Athens, a similar incident occurred Sept. 15 when an Oconee County man set up an Athens man who thought he was communicating with a juvenile boy.
Law enforcement agencies, such as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, also use many of the same covert tactics to make criminal cases against sexual predators.
In the Athens incident, police accepted the social media data and video from the man who videoed his confrontation with the suspect.
However, police spokesman Geoff Gilland said Tuesday that detectives are not investigating the case that occurred Sept. 15 due to the department being an affiliate member of the Internet Crimes Against Children, which has investigative standards for police to use in such investigations.
Its standards state that its members will not approve and encourage “cybervigilantism” by private citizens. Police must use sworn personnel to conduct such investigations, according to the standards.
In the Jackson County case, Criminal Investigation Division Lt. Charlie Timms said Tuesday the deputy took the suspect’s cell phone after an law enforcement was called to the scene.
“We obtained a search warrant for the cell phone data and it’s being reviewed,” Timms said. “Right now, we do not have charges, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be filed at a later time. The guy in question – the 38-year-old – has obtained an attorney.”
Athens-Clarke police had not been confronted with a civilian case like this prior to September and Timms said he couldn’t recall one in Jackson County; however, he was familiar with such cases from seeing them on social media and television.
“We treat it like a citizen complaint. We don’t ask them to work and do things like this for us,” he said about the group.
In the Jackson County case, a deputy arrived to learn the incident was being live-streamed by the Bikers Against Predators, a nonprofit group whose investigations have led to arrests in other states.
CBS Newspath reported in 2021 on a case the BAP made in Indiana, where a prosecutor was quoted as asking them to stop confronting online predators because they don’t have police training.