SEPTEMBER 16–A group of five young Florida men is facing an assortment of criminal charges for battering and falsely imprisoning a man who they targeted in a “To Catch a Predator”-style sting that was recorded and “uploaded to a website for public viewing for profit,” according to court records.
As alleged in arrest affidavits, the video vigilantism occurred around 2 AM Friday at a home in Largo, a city in the Tampa Bay area.
The victim arrived at the residence allegedly expecting to meet a minor for a sexual encounter. The man apparently had been lured to the short-term rental property via a dating app or some other fraudulent online enticement.
After arriving at the residence, the victim was forced onto a couch while being yelled at to “sit the f*ck down” and “shut the f*ck up.” One of the assailants placed the victim in a rear-naked choke hold while others “repeatedly threatened” him and warned of “police intervention.”
While pinning the victim down, the defendants stood in a circle around the man and “physically attacked” him while he was “trapped and unable to leave” and “was begging and pleading for the attack to stop,” cops charge.
One of the men arrested, Matthew ____, 19, “forcibly shaved the head of the victim against his will” for “humiliation purposes.” The group of attackers “repeatedly threatened the victim and coerced him into doing acts of humiliation,” which are not further described in court documents.
The accused men recorded the incident and planned to “profit monetarily” from the video, which was “uploaded to a website for public viewing for profit without the victim’s consent.” The affidavits do no identify the website or whether the attack was livestreamed.
In addition to Matthew ____, the September 12 arrests netted Rolan _____, 20; Erald _____, 18; Dylan _____, 19; and Andro _____, 19. Each man faces a felony false imprisonment charge, while some also have been hit with battery and/or robbery counts.
Andro was charged with child neglect, a felony, for bringing a juvenile to the site of the sting, which cops described as “an area with an unknown subject believed to potentially be a person convicted of a sexual offense.” The minor involved “was a suspect and was arrested,” a police spokesperson told TSG. Andro, is identified in court records as “caregiver” to the juvenile, who was visible in the uploaded video.
The defendants were each released on bond from the county jail Sunday, and a judge has ordered them to have no contact with the victim.
based on a similar story found here.
‘The accused men recorded the incident and planned to “profit monetarily” from the video’
Wow! So now vigilantism is a scheme to make money from click baiting.
How about law enforcement create a new sting operation called ‘to catch a vigilante’.
I like how the oldest is 20, young enough to get caught up with a younger girl and become a PFR himself
It’s Florida. These idiots will probably get a medal.
This is just another example of how society feels about PFR. We all know they won’t do any time, their charges will get reduced down to misdemeanors and they’ll all get slaps on the wrist, it’s sad because PFR are literally under attack by people in society and the US government not only supports but encourages it.
The LGBT community has been attacked by society since late 70s early 80s especially when AIDS came out they were public enemy number one to this day people in America don’t hire transgender people so a lot of them are forced into sex work and homelessness, or like the Utah sniper shamed by his church, and shamed by his mom, dad and other family members because of his sexuality. He probably felt shamed and banished from society like a person forced to register and you see what it did to him.