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The video ends when two RCMP officers arrive at the home and announce that the trio are facing charges for assault.

“You’re all being detained for assault right now, sorry,” says an attending officer before seizing the phone being used for the recording.

Photo by Facebook

Before the video ends the mother turns the camera on herself and says, “I am arrested because we caught a predator that the police refused to catch.”

Early this year, B.C. Crown prosecutors confirmed charges of assault and forcible confinement against the three. In a court appearance last week, the mother and stepfather pleaded not guilty to the charges, while the third man is awaiting sentencing after agreeing to a deal with prosecutors that would avoid a trial.

Speaking to the National Post via Facebook message, the Port Alberni mother said the saga began in February when she was checking her daughter’s phone on an unrelated matter and saw lewd Instagram messages from a man who turned out to be a family friend.

She initially approached RCMP with the messages and met several times with an investigating officer.

However, she said she got “discouraged” with the police investigation about six weeks later when she noticed that the suspected child lurer was messaging another social media account owned by her daughter.

She said RCMP turned down her request to immediately participate in a sting to catch the man. Fearful that the man might be targeting other children, she assumed her daughter’s identity on Instagram and agreed to a meeting at the family home.