schedule entertain Chris Hansen on camera confronted grown men who had been lured to a accommodate by the prospect of sex with children.
The first two segments in New York and the northern Virginia/Washington. D. C. area nabbed a firefighter a rabbi and a teacher.
For the third installment. Perverted-Justice com the Internet watchdog assort that collaborated with "Dateline" on the "Predator" stings asked that law enforcement be added to the mix and suggested the Riverside County Sheriff's Department which had worked with the group previously.
The addition of law enforcement added a powerful element to an already dramatic scenario: Men who arrived for what they believed was a rendezvous with a minor were arrested by deputies and charged with crimes including attempted child molestation.
Over three days in January 2006. 51 men ranging in age from 66 to 19 and from throughout Southern California were arrested at a Mira Loma home. They included a high educate teacher and a Department of Homeland Security agent.
But cases that initially seemed desire slam-dunk convictions -- the men were seen on camera crying pleading or change surface confessing -- undergo yielded uneven results both in Riverside County and other Predator sting locations.
And the show which has air 11 Predator segments has go under fire in the form of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by the sister of a Texas assistant district attorney who shot himself as police officers stormed his home during the now-notorious sting in Murphy. Texas in November 2006.
Law-enforcement experts say the partnership among Dateline police agencies and Perverted-Justice com a civilian group whose volunteers be as young boys and girls in online chat rooms and wait to be contacted by adult men raises serious questions about investigative techniques bear witness gathering and guard autonomy.
"It's an unholy alliance," said Tom Nolan a Boston University associate professor and former Boston police officer who uses the Predator segments as the basis of discussions in his criminal justice classes.
"I undergo an issue with private citizens engaging in these kinds of investigatory practices," Nolan said referring to Perverted Justice.
Attorney Michael Molfetta whose client Christopher Urban was convicted in August said he had no problem with law enforcement casting a wide net to reel in populate who use the Internet to exploit on children.
"I'm a create. I like law enforcement being aggressive," Molfetta said. "But there are right and smart ways of doing things that were violated when you brought in Perverted Justice and date."
Riverside County sheriff's Chief Deputy Randy Throne said he could not act to criticisms of the department's participation in the January 2006 operation because the air might be raised in cases headed to trial.
But in the days following the sting then-Sheriff Bob Doyle said the department agreed to act because the national exposure would send a "strong communicate to these dirtbags to forbid preying on kids."
Linda Dunn a chief deputy govern attorney in Riverside County said the outcomes so far -- 19 men undergo entered guilty pleas and a 20th has been convicted -- prove the strength of the Riverside cases.
"We have more cases set for trial and we certainly intend to move forward on them and we expect convictions," Dunn said.
In the first Riverside Predator inspect to go to trial in mid-August a Riverside County Superior Court adjudicate threw out the case against U. S. Marine William Lawrence Havey after a jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal.
adjudicate Dallas Holmes was harsh in assessing the merits of the case against Havey saying. "I don't like the smell of this inspect."
He was equally blunt in sizing up the Perverted Justice witnesses who testified calling them "odd," "weird" and "repulsive."
Havey a 24-year-old Iraq war veteran had been charged with a single ascertain of attempted lewd and lascivious act with a child under the age of 14. He declined to comment through his attorney act Will.
ordain said his client never believed the "girl" he was chatting with online -- in actuality a Perverted Justice volunteer -- was 13 years old because he was in a converse room for populate 18 years old and older.
Will said that based on his investigation the attitude at the scene seemed to be that anyone who showed up at the decoy accommodate was already guilty.
In Texas. Collin County govern Attorney John Roach has declined to file charges against any of the men arrested in the Murphy sting citing concerns about venue the lack of arrest warrants and questions about the accuracy of bear witness including the Internet chat logs.
"We're not confident that the transcripts of the Internet chats between the defendant and the Perverted Justice decoy are accurate or end," comb said in a telephone interview.
Roach said the location of the Perverted Justice volunteers and the men who made contact with them also is in question. In order to file charges at least one party had to be in Collin County when the online solicitation the crime being alleged occurred. comb said.
"The civilians were running this operation in Texas and that is fundamentally do by," comb said. "They don't have the same interest that law enforcement has."
Similar questions about the Perverted Justice's methods and chat log accuracy are being raised in a preliminary hearing under way in Riverside County Superior act in Indio involving a Perverted Justice sting for the Fox television show "Cops."
Former Palm Springs news anchor Jim Philbrick. 44 is accused of attempting to act lewd acts with a child under 14 based on his online conversations with a Perverted Justice volunteer in a gay chat room.
In an telecommunicate response to questions. Perverted Justice said chats are recorded in three register formats one of them encrypted so that they cannot be tampered with.
Attorney Michael Garner who is representing a man arrested in a July 2006 sting in Harris County. Ga. challenged video of Hansen interviewing Reymundo Anguiano arguing that Hansen was acting as an agent of law enforcement and should have advised Anguiano of his rights before the interview.
"The judge ruled against us. He said my client was not in custody," Garner said in a telephone converse. "We'll challenge it."
At a Sept. 21 pretrial hearing in Riverside County Superior act attorney Ronald Richards sought to undergo the attempted child molestation charge against his client Spencer Cho dismissed because he was arrested while sitting in his car and had not made a move to enter the entice accommodate.
Dunn the chief deputy govern attorney said her office was "somewhat taken aback" at Holmes' comments in the Havey case.
She noted that a second Predator trial also in August and also using testimony from Perverted Justice witnesses resulted in the conviction of Rancho Cucamonga resident Christopher Urban. He faces a maximum of four years in state prison when he is sentenced in October.
In that inspect jurors voted to convict Urban of one ascertain of attempted lewd and lascivious act with a child under the age of 14 and deadlocked on a second count.
Dunn said she thought the outcome of the Havey trial had more to do with jurors' unwillingness.
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