Posted on 08/22/2020 1:23:10 AM PDT by nickcarraway
He calls himself the Luzerne County Predator Catcher.
Using social media and dating applications, Musa Harris claims to have exposed 44 child molesters to date — people he says have shown up for sex after he identifies himself as an underage kid.
“You get a lot that say, ‘No, you’re too young for me.’ But you get them certain ones that like, they’re cool with the age. It don’t bother them. Those are the ones I put right on (Facebook) Live,” said Harris, 40. “It’s not just like weirdo-looking people. It’s people that you might not have ever thought would be like this. Those are the ones I really be wanting. The ones that’s not on Megan’s Law, stuff like that. People you trust right with your kids.”
Harris has been at it since early this year, but it wasn’t until a former police officer showed up for a meeting last weekend that his work went viral, with a video that hit more than 1 million views on TikTok. Text messages Harris posted along with the video indicate the man — whom The Citizens’ Voice is not identifying because he has not been charged — had been discussing having sex with a 15-year-old boy.
Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis has said her office is investigating that case, along with others. She declined to comment further Thursday.
Despite opposition from law enforcement — some have described Harris as a “vigilante” whose actions could hurt the chances for prosecuting child predators — he has strong support online. His Facebook group has more than 27,000 followers, and he said his TikTok account has almost 70,000.
Harris, of Wilkes-Barre, said he decided to get started as a predator catcher after hearing repeated stories about people being abused.
“I just was getting tired of hearing the stories about it,” Harris said, adding that he began watching videos of other predator catchers. “I seen people doing it, and I’m like man, I’m about to do it too. You can’t get arrested for doing it. I’m about to do it too.”
Harris, who is an unemployed father of four, said he spends hours on various social media and dating applications, many of which require users to be at least 18 years old. But he noted that kids often claim to be adults just so they can access the apps.
“I’m looking at it as, if my daughter can do this, how many other kids can do the same thing my daughter is doing and grown men are jumping out in their inboxes?” Harris said. “Something’s gotta give.”
During the conversations, he claims to be a minor, either a boy or girl around 14 or 15, he said.
“Once a child tells an adult that they’re 15, that should be the end of discussion right there,” Harris said.
Those who don’t end the conversation end up in front of a cellphone camera live-streaming the encounter to social media.
“My adrenaline just be pumping. Like, I’m ready to video them,” Harris said. “I’m like, ‘Do you know that person you was actually talking to was me and it wasn’t that little girl?’ I know I said I was 15 years old. You wouldn’t be on live right now if I didn’t say I was 15. You wouldn’t be getting exposed right now.”
While many of the comments on his posts support his mission, Harris said he has faced backlash as well.
Back in March, Wilkes-Barre Twp. police issued a Facebook statement referencing the videos, discouraging “vigilantes” from conducting such operations.
“For your own safety we recommend you do not make contact with these individuals,” police said. “You do not know what any of these individuals maybe capable of in person or retaliatory speaking, afterwards. It is best to contact law enforcement should you encounter adults seeking contact with minors. By not doing this you circumvent safeguards in place to track/monitor these individuals and potentially risk compromising means of prosecuting them.”
Harris said he has also faced personal attacks from individuals.
“I’ve done got so much crap from what I’m doing,” he said. “Harassment all over Facebook, people putting out lies on me.”
He acknowledged having a pending resisting arrest case from Kingston — he says it stemmed from his possession of prescribed medical marijuana — as well as several drug convictions in cases from 2009, but said they have nothing to do with what he is currently doing.
“That’s like 12 years ago,” Harris said.
Harris said he doesn’t plan to stop his work, and that he hopes the police will be able to make cases against the people he has highlighted.
“I hope that every person I got gets charged,” Harris said.
Despite Harris’ intentions, experts say prosecutors could have trouble with his cases. The statute defining unlawful contact with a minor — a law frequently cited in online child sex stings — says the offender needs to be “intentionally in contact with a minor, or a law enforcement officer acting in the performance of his duties who has assumed the identity of a minor.”
Legal experts say the law does not establish a crime in cases where a civilian is posing as a minor, even if working at the behest of police.
John Hakim, attorney administrator for the Luzerne County Department of Conflict Counsel, questioned whether the procedures and techniques being employed during an investigation conducted by an untrained civilian would hold up in court.
“People seem to think like, ‘Oh this guy’s a hero. They should be arresting these guys,’” Hakim said. “But I don’t know that any of that evidence is admissible because it’s not a law-enforcement officer. He’s not even acting under color of a law-enforcement officer, like a (confidential informant) would in a drug case.”
Sgt. Kenneth Bellis, commander for the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, said police need extensive training regarding everything from what pictures they can use to what they are allowed to say while conducting sting operations.
“We actually have rules that we have to follow to try and prosecute the offenders,” he said.
As a result, the task force will not work with civilians conducting their own investigations.
“We strongly discourage any civilians who are not affiliated with law enforcement from engaging in vigilante activities,” Bellis said. “They may have good intentions, but it’s just too dangerous and harmful to the investigation.”
I’m not a lawyer. If this predator makes an appointment with someone they think is underage, and it’s an adult, did they still commit a crime, and they can be convicted from that?
If an adult thinks he’s sending a picture of his privates to an underage person, I think he’s in a lot of trouble.
If he talks explicitly about what they are going to do together, he’s probably in trouble.
But he’s not coordinating with police so nothing will happen to them
I think it’s a little weird to do this on your own.
Yes, thats how the old Dateline specials with Chris Hansen worked. In some states it was just a misdemeanor and showing up was the felony. In others it was a felony outright to make the plan. The problem as you go further into the amateur spectrum is you pretty much take the word of the vigilante that they’re on the level when at best they may not be dotting all their is and ts and at worse they’re up to funny business with entrapment or simply outright making a false accusation, you can visit Divorce Court to see how easily some people throw around life ending accusations of pedophilia. Dateline had some screwups where they had to let the guys go and Unemployed Vigilante Man is an even more guerilla operation.
I saw a special on a guy that was doing it on his own.
He had a record too.
I think they think their crimes were “better” than the ones these other guys are trying to commit.
And yeah child molesting is really at the bottom rung and disgusting and sick and since it’s kids we feel 10x more awful hearing about it.
But beating someone with a pipe or even your fists doesn’t make you a good guy.
He seemed like an attention whore more than anything.
15 is legal in about 90% of the world. Sex with a 15 year old does not constitute pedophilia. It is a legal violation but not a psychiatric one.
How specific does the plans they’re making have to be? if some 30-year-old man was taking a 15-year-old to Comic-Con to see some kind of sci-fi panel is that a crime?
child molesters are bad. But I kind of think it’s the police’s job to catch them. Of course if you see evidence of some kind of thing like that then you go to the police and tell them.
Of course I think I posted an article here earlier this year about some guy who has a website that’s something like for contract killers and he gets tons of people emailing him for contract killings and he just sends it to the police. And some of these people have ended up being convicted of cuz the police send some kind of undercover person out to meet them.
That’s a little weird to me too but I guess he’s gotten actual criminals off the streets.
Depending on the laws of the specific state or country? Probably.
Can they be convicted from that? That depends on the evidence available against them. When it’s the police/FBI/other law enforcement conducting the investigation, there are a lot of rules and procedures they follow to make sure they have a solid case to present to prosecutors. They’re establishing clear intent, chain of custody on all evidence collected, positive identification of the suspect, and so on.
Some guy just doing stings on his own? Probably isn’t putting together any sort of case that any prosecutor can realistically use. If anything, people like this are probably helping these perverts avoid future stings. Once they’ve realized the level of risk, they’ll put in a lot more effort to ensure future activities are more clandestine, leave less evidence, and make it harder to put a case together against them. I seriously doubt that most law enforcement officers working these types of cases appreciate amateurs like this running their own little sting operations. It makes the job of those law enforcement officers that much harder and probably makes the world a little more dangerous for those most vulnerable to exploitation.
The age of consent needs to drop to 14 or 15.
It used to be that age in some states. I believe Georgia had an age of consent of 14 until they changed it before the 1996 Olympics.
“I think it’s a little weird to do this on your own.”
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The desire for publicity and to be hailed as a great person can be a strong drive. Also, there’s easy money to be made in all the the misc. online “influencer” rackets.
“The age of consent needs to drop to 14 or 15.”
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Why doesn’t it “need” to be dropped?
“The age of consent needs to drop to 14 or 15.”
Why? Because you can’t control yourself?
Im sure the Muslims will have a problem with this, RACIST!
Well, I;ve always said that is why it isn’t a crime until the person goes through with it. One the Internet she seems to be Britney Spears at 15. In person, not so much. So, when a policeman plays a 15 year old you are getting the fantasy version. Not the little girl version. Hence the mismatched attraction.
No because that makes the most sense.
Devils advocate here.
Why?
Seems that youthful vigor is what we are programmed to be attracted to.
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