FORT PIERCE, Fla. —A Florida teen is being credited with putting a child predator behind bars.
According to WPBF, back in January, 38-year-old Zachary ___ of Jensen Beach started talking to who he believed was a 14-year-old girl named “Shayla” on the internet.
“Shayla” was actually a 16-year-old boy who was trying to find predators in his area.
“Here you have a 16-year-old boy wanting to take the matter into his own hands and find these child predators in his area, and he found one,” Callahan Walsh, a child advocate with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said.
Court documents contain messages showing Zachary trying to persuade “Shayla” to have sex with him in his car, graphic conversations and images.
The 16-year-old went to the police, who then took over acting as “Shayla.”
On Jan. 20, authorities arrested Zachary at his Jensen Beach home after finding him in possession of the cellphone he had used to communicate with Shayla.
Zachary was later sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of attempting to entice a teenage girl for sex online.
Oh great – now Scooby Doo wannabes are getting in on the action of nabbing stupid grown men too stupid and too horny to know better than going after online jailbait.
First of all – it’s stupid and wrong for kids to set up stings that cops are already doing. It is not the place for private citizens -let alone kids- to play detective. They put themselves in danger and can inadvertently tamper with the legal process. In fact, there are many amateur operations that have ended with police dropping the case because it failed to meet protocol standards that court cases demand. This kid should not be commended.
Secondly – I hate you Florida for your vindictiveness and toxic environment that has nothing better to do but look for people to kick around to satiate your toxic masculinity.
Thirdly – F#CK YOU Florida – I hope you sink into the bottom of the ocean, or a Category 10 Hurricane wipe you clean. – From California with LOVE.
i dont understand how people can be arrested for non real things, what 14 yr. old girl? so the writers and voice actor of coyote should be arrested for trying to kill road? and illegal use of explosives?
Thats what you call doing unto others in a vain way. Now I understand the song “play that funky music white boy” What a no brainer test to tempt.
I personally think anyone who conducts these things should be prosecuted for pimping children. The fact that there was no real child shouldn’t be a defense for them any more than it is for their targets.
And I bet this 16 year old kid who was sitting in his mommy’s basement was on an 18 year old and older website.
One day a kid like him is going to be doing this and the person on the other end is going to find him and hurt him really bad, if not worse.
Of course this happens in Florida. Glad a predator is no longer able to hurt anyone, but the means don’t justify the ends. Bad enough when cops entrap a person, but when citizens do it they are putting themselves in trouble for their actions. I don’t see how this kid isn’t in trouble for catfishing the guy.
This kid has no friends, is not involved in any activities and likely has parents that talk about this stuff at the dinner table. He’s going to make a great Florida State Trooper some day ! 😵💫
I know we are hated much worse than a common “shooter”. Possibly feared more also. But anyway ….
A parallel thought.
A person trolls the web looking for people vulnerable for anger and violence.
They bully, harass, incite them into an angry state of mind. They encourage them to act out. They plant the idea of violence and turn it over to police– A parkland happens once again. (or is stopped by a FBI/LEO/cop)
Is this inciter a hero? Is he or she doing society good by “finding and weeding out” potential threats?
Virtually all states have full time people working to find the right men who are vulnerable/horny/stupid/ enough to fall for the 14 year old cop bait and switch thing. There are websites devoted to it. TV shows made for it. millions are made on it. this is supposed to make it safer for our kids.
Why would weeding out the portion of society who has the propensity to act out in violence against our children be wrong? It seems wrong to me. It also seems foolish.
But then again searching for men on adults only websites or any website to encourage and incite a crime seems wrong and foolish also. I’m sure law enforcement does stop some violent crime with their tactics. Certainly it’s not as easy to find/trap these people. Much more newsworthy to get the low hanging fruit.
You neglected a couple of sentences that shed more light on the tone of the entire issue.
“Walsh said he is happy that the teenage boy wanted to catch Spiegel, but he cautions other people from doing the same thing because the predators they encounter could be dangerous.
“He encourages people to report exploitation if they see it happening, but to leave the hunting and investigating up to law enforcement.”
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-14017.
Guess for many of you all this registry is one big emotion button for you all but who’s pulling the puppet strings. I’m sure the judge doesn’t do emotions do they!
This numbskull is basically another fringe mutation of Kyle Rittenhouse that’s been radicalized by the media, Facebook and Q-anon. These types want attention, instant-gratification, fame and glory to compensate for their lackluster upbringing, inferiority complexes and insecurity issues.
They wouldn’t engage in this type of activity if they didn’t feel as though society had their back and blessings.
They are brainwashed into thinking that they matter, but in reality they’re not fighting the good fight they THINK they are.
This Florida case sounds a bit like my case only several differences. While trying to Warn a teen that they shouldn’t be on an adult site the issue can get out of hand if one doesn’t open their ears and listen. Stringing someone along is a death sentence to those Law enforcement people that play these stings behind the scene.
While Janice mentioned a faulty foundation the government has a faulty foundation. Even the principals are misleading in many ways and thats not justice. One can understand a bank robbery or a shooting a lot better than this plea from a pretend teenager to come down and talk sex to them. Sounds more of a micky mouse chase of affairs and deceptive to the max. Call it reverse pretending justice.
In this article, is this Zachary person trying to expound on the larger principal or the smaller. Even the motivation of the said encounter is confusing and unjust in many ways and means. Gaining something by deceptive measures is a sign of a corrupt government. So where does public safety come into play. In many ways it doesn’t.
Sure we all face challenges but when government uses a subtle type of motivation to critique another than it is just as unjust in this misleading of that person or persons. So were is freedom today for many that are caught up in this web of deceit called the internet sting. One cannot protect and serve and mislead another . Who is corrupting and who is influencing in these shrew endeavors.
I don’t understand how these charges aren’t fought and forced to be dropped. It’s bad enough with LE representatives conducting the allegedly clean sting operations, but when civilians do it with unapproved methods, it should be a simple matter for it to be fought in court with a competent attorney. Back in the Perverted Justice days prior to To Catch a Predator, there were constant warnings to the public to refrain what they were doing, because without a clear concise protocol they risked losing in court.
Keep in mind that this is a step closer to actually setting up someone with a false charge, say pretending to be 19 or 20 and the doctoring the messages to say 13 or 14, and the burden to prove otherwise is on the sting victim. And the problem is that there is no re-compensation even if one proved to be set up. With a state actor, there is a reasonable chance of ample compensation; with a teen on a phone device doing it as a lark, not so much.
If you create a fake online personna in order to hunt and trap someone, you’re the predator.
Guys bearing the sword in vain vs the sword of justice are like some president saying it takes two to tango. Sure the bible says theirs not a just man on the face of the earth that does good and sin’s not. Yes, another person can get the best of another if one doesn’t watch and listen and via an internet device it can be pretty immoral. One could even call much of this registry as a unjust punishment yet again much of this comes down to a web of deceit of lust. Even having second thoughts of going down to meet this internet person can present a compromising positing.for many.
Even woman can get the best of men but justice is still justice and that’s why one has the sword of Justice if one uses it right. See if the blind lead the blind they all fall in a ditch that’s why we all need faith and a bit of biblical understanding. Even many of these registry issues are so vain in and of themselves in many ways. These ordeals are a “Catcher in the Rye” syndrome if one wants to label it that and in many ways immoral and taking advantage of the weak by some internet type machine encounter.