Stings may cause child predators to go back to looking for kids 'at the playground'

Cameron Knight | Cincinnati Enquirer

Those caught by amateur online child predator sting groups likely aren't breaking Ohio law, according to a Hamilton County investigator.

Sgt. Dave Ausdenmoore with the Regional Electronics and Computer Investigations Unit told The Enquirer that civilian groups targeting potential predators and exposing them online will not cause criminal convictions.

"What they're doing is of zero impact to law enforcement. They're not generating anything we can use," he said. "They're making our job a little bit harder every time they do it."

A civilian adult posing as a juvenile and engaging with possible predators to gather evidence simply doesn't meet the standards of Ohio law, according to Ausdenmoore.

Thursday night, a Facebook group called Parents Against Predators Nationwide (PAPN) broadcast an "exposure" involving a man the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office identified as a now-former corrections officer.

More: Sheriff: Corrections officer resigns after child predator sting on Facebook

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The group claims the corrections officer sent nude photos and "very sexual messages" to someone he believed was a 15-year-old girl, but he was communicating with a "decoy," an adult woman posing a teen.

When the man showed up to allegedly meet the teen for sex, he was met by another man who asked him to explain himself. The encounter was live-streamed on Facebook.

This was the first high-profile incident involving a self-organized anti-predator group in the Cincinnati area. The groups have sprung up all over the country as social media has given child predators a new avenue to communicate with juveniles.

In this case, PAPN said they would be turning over chat logs, photos and other records of the man's behavior to law enforcement. But Sgt. Ausdenmoore said it won't do any good in court.

"What these folks are trying to do is build a case for importuning," Ausdenmoore said. "The importuning statute is clear. It's got to be a real kid or it has to be a law enforcement officer acting in an undercover capacity."

PAPN used an adult pretending to be a juvenile and that adult was not an officer, according to the group's leadership. Ausdenmoore said that means even if the specific allegations PAPN made against a man are true, he was not violating Ohio law.

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said it was launching an internal investigation into the former corrections officer, which it identified in a news release as Ryan Parker.

One of the co-founders of the PAPN group, Doug Allen, said the stings have resulted in criminal convictions elsewhere in the U.S., but Ausdenmoore said it may only hurt law enforcement efforts in Ohio by sending predators away from the internet and back to the streets.

"There's a predator who is out there who is going back to looking for kids at the ice cream store or at the playground or at the local park or swimming pool or whatever," Ausdenmoore said. "That makes it orders of magnitude harder for law enforcement to find."

The Regional Electronics and Computer Investigations Unit is made up of one Cincinnati police officer and three Hamilton County Sheriff's deputies. They provide resources to law enforcement agencies from Dayton to Northern Kentucky.

Ausdenmoore said so far this year the unit had facilitated 16 felony arrests, six misdemeanor arrests and identified 14 children who were previously unidentified as victims of sexual abuse.

The unit has forensically analyzed on 298 devices and combed through 33 terabytes of data, he said.

"While their goal is admirable. Their activities can make it harder for law enforcement," Ausdenmoore said. "I don't get to frame the statutes. I just get to enforce them."

He said he's also very concerned for the safety of those who confront potential predators.

"I'm afraid one of these folks that is trying to out a potential predator ends up encountering a predator that produces a gun and kills them," he said. "When we do a predator sting, we have surveillance in place before the guy gets there. We go in wearing body armor and we have guns. We undertake that risk because it's a part of the job and it's a part of our oath."

Ausdenmoore said the groups might be subject to a civil lawsuit if they falsely accuse someone, but as far as the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department is concerned, "they are free to do what they want."

He also said that his small unit does not do undercover stings as frequently as they did in the past.

But he said in Ohio, the law is clear. Unless it's an undercover law enforcement officer, adults pretending to be juveniles will not put a possible child predator behind bars.

"I can't see why anyone without the training, the tools and the experience would venture out to do that," Ausdenmoore said. "But still, there's nothing we can do to stop it."