10News: Officers bend rules to boost sex sting arrest totals
Entrapment exposed to maximize ICAC Federal Grants to local Police
TV investigative report exposes the same scam as used in Phoenix
Mrs McCain again on TV Sunday night talking all about the sexual predictors coming to Phoenix bringing children as prostitutes for the Super bowl. Besides all the victim private organizations this also gets Federal ICAC Grants to police. So even though 90% of arrests are consenting adults with nothing to do with children, it is the ploy to get ICAC funding as exposed by the media. This even makes sense now with reports in the major adult busts from websites it is reported cops get bonuses based on how many arrests they make of consenting private adults.
10News (Tampa Bay but part of national LE scam for grant money as in Phoenix)
Highlights of long article:
As the stings put more and more men behind bars, detectives are working harder and harder to keep up their arrest numbers. And the tactics they're using to put alleged sexual offenders in jail are sweeping up large numbers of law-abiding men, too.
A yearlong investigation by 10 Investigates reveals many of the men whose mugshots have been paraded out by local sheriffs in made-for-TV press conferences were minding their own business, looking for other adults, when detectives started to groom and convince them to break the law.
According to arrest affidavits inspected by 10 Investigates, law enforcement is also now routinely making first contact with men who have done nothing wrong, responding to their ads on dating sites like PlentyOfFish.com. After men start conversing with what they think are adults, officers change the age they claim to be, but try to convince the men to continue the conversation anyway.
Other examples include undercover officers showing interest in a man, then later introducing the idea of having sex with the undercover's "child." If the men indicate they weren't interested, they were still often arrested for just talking to the adult.
Critics of the stings, including a number of prominent Tampa Bay law enforcement leaders, tell 10 News the operations make for better press conferences than they do crime fighting.
Judges have also been very critical of some of the tactics used in the stings, Among the comments from judges in recent entrapment decisions:
"The government made a concerted effort to lure him into committing a crime."
"The undercover officer failed to follow the procedures …"
"The law does not tolerate government action to provoke a law-abiding citizen to commit a crime."
The judge in one dismissed case ..."the officer controlled the tone, pace and subject matter of online conversation, pushing toward a discussion of sexual activity."
(Many) have active investigations open on hundreds, if not thousands, of men who did nothing more than legally communicate with adults on legal websites.
The state's best-known lawman also showed little concern for due process during a Tuesday press conference to tout arrests since March in predator-style stings. He pointed to 132 mugshots on a giant posterboard and called the men "sexual predators."
But when 10 Investigates pointed out some of the men had already been cleared of charges, he said they were still fair game because "we have a very liberal - a very forgiving - criminal justice system."
but xxxx makes sure the mugshots and stigma of being arrested for a sex crime haunts the men for the rest of their lives.
Critics point out many of the 1,200 men who are ultimately arrested in Florida and called "sexual predators" weren't preying or even looking for kids; many were seeking adults. The majority of them were in their teens or 20s at the time, and approximately 97 percent of the men had zero history of any sexual crimes or accusations.
"The biggest waste ever"
ICAC stings typically cost tens of thousands of dollars - sometimes close to $100,000 - in costs and officers' time, and that doesn't include the costs to prosecute and jail defendants.
"(My son) was stalked by law enforcement for three days," said the mother of a 22-year-old arrested in one of the stings.
The son was on Craiglist's personals pages, looking to meet other adults. He responded to a "no strings attached" ad for a 26-year-old woman. He says her story changed a few times, including the claim she was only 13, but he was skeptical.
He spoke on the phone to the undercover and she sent a photo, in which she was wearing a wedding ring. He said he was sure she was an adult (she was), so he made plans to meet her. When he arrived, he was arrested. He was later sentenced to two years of house arrest and a lifetime as a registered sex offender.
"He had a life of promise; he had an education," his mother said. "That's all been shot." She says her son is paying the price of opportunistic lawmen.
Board-certified defense attorney xxxxxx says law enforcement officers have become experts in coercing innocent men into breaking the law. "They are really good at subtly turning conversations and normal statements into sexual innuendo - whether or not the other side intended that," he said.
xxx who has a practice in Sarasota, just got a 23-year-old client's case dismissed in Manatee. A judge ruled deputies entrapped his client, writing that their tactics had "no place in modern day law enforcement."
xxxn adds that officers are pushing the boundaries further and further to keep up their arrest numbers and keep the federal ICAC grants flowing. And responding to legal ads on legal dating sites crosses the line. "Once the low-hanging fruit is sort of gone, taken off the tree," xxxxxx said, "there's still pressure from high above to justify these actions."
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/inves...ment/13734121/
10News: Officers bend rules to boost sex sting arrest totals Entrapment exposed to maximize ICAC Federal Grants to local Police
