FL - Officers bend rules to boost sex sting arrest totals

Sheriff Grady Judd

Original Article (Video available)

08/09/2014

By Noah Pransky

This is the first of a two-part series examining how law enforcement is blurring the lines on due process.

POLK COUNTY - In the decade since Chris Hansen and "To Catch a Predator" popularized Internet sex stings, more than 1,200 men in Florida alone have been arrested, accused of preying on underage teens and children for sex.

But 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 not seeking to meet children online. Instead, they were minding their own business, looking for other adults, when detectives started to groom and convince them to break the law.

While detectives used to post ads suggesting an underage teen or child was available for sex, they now routinely post more innocuous personal ads of adults on traditional dating sites. When men – many of them under 25 with no criminal history - respond, officers switch the bait and typically indicate their age is really 14 or 15 years old. However, sometimes the storyline isn't switched until the men, who were looking for legal love, already start falling for the undercover agent.

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. Many of the men who are arrested for sexual predator crimes see little jail time.

But Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, when asked about over-aggressive detectives, instead went on the offensive: "The concern (I have) is that you inflate your investigative reporting to make it glitzy."

Rest of the story

FL - Local law enforcement refuses to turn over records on secret sex stings, despite questionable practices

Pinellas Police

Original Article

03/14/2014

By Noah Pransky

PINELLAS COUNTY - Despite findings by 10 Investigates that officers and deputies may not have followed federal guidelines in trying to lure sexual predators during a recent sting, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office tells 10 News no discipline or action is expected.

The agency is also refusing to cooperate with 10 Investigates' public records requests for emails pertaining to the sting. The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) rejected a request for emails that did not pertain to open cases.

But PCSO said every email exchange from its four-day operation -- including from men who showed no interest in sex with underage children -- remained an open investigation, with arrests or prosecutions imminent. An agency spokesperson said there were no plans to close the cases anytime soon.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Polk Co. Sheriff's Office, and Clearwater Police Department also refused to provide requested chat logs pertaining to cases that resulted in no arrest or charges.

The January sting, dubbed "Operation: Home Alone," resulted in 35 arrests. But guidelines for the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force instruct undercover officers to "allow the investigative target to set the tone, pace, and subject matter of the online conversation." An alleged email chain (PDF) obtained by 10 Investigates indicates law enforcement may be willing to push past boundaries to get "targets" to talk about sex with children.

Local defense attorneys tell 10 Investigates that "there's no question [law enforcement] blurs the lines." But the state attorney's office in Pinellas County failed to return multiple requests for comment.

And while the Pinellas Co. Sheriff's Office, Pasco County Sheriff's Office, Clearwater Police Department, and FDLE all maintain every communication between officers and civilians is part of an open investigation, a spokesperson for the St. Petersburg Police Department contradicted the claim saying, "it's not uncommon to engage in a large number of conversations with a number of individuals, most of which never rises to the level of criminal conduct. Consequently, copies of those conversations (are not saved)."

Several agencies have told 10 Investigates their cases remain open because the agencies may again pursue some of the men who responded to their "casual encounters" ads, but ultimately were not arrested in the January sting.

A similar sting, conducted by the Manatee Co. Sheriff's Office (MCSO) called "Operation Green Shepherd III," resulted in similar refusals to turn over records.

An attorney for the MCSO told 10 Investigates that emails from individuals who responded to the "adult encounter"-type ads, even if they did not show interest in sex with minors, were exempt from public record laws because they were still considered part of "active" cases.

The attorney said the cases were still considered "active" investigations because "MCSO has a reasonable good faith anticipation of securing an arrest or prosecution in the foreseeable future. In those cases where an arrest was made, prosecution is pending."

10 Investigates will continue to fight for access to public records.