Vigilante justice is EPIC fail

The Lebanon Reporter - 3/24/2023

Mar. 24—An amateur group ambushed a man last week with child sex abuse material they said he solicited online from someone he thought was a child.

Exposing Predators of Indiana's Children, EPIC, livestreamed their latest misguided confrontation with their victim in his driveway via Facebook.

EPIC volunteers pose online as children and solicit illicit interaction with adults. Then the volunteers visit the adults at home or work with records of the interactions and livestream themselves confronting the suspects.

There's no turning back after a public scene has been made and someone is accused of a crime so taboo. Their family will never forget the look on their face. Their neighbors and employers will never forget the accusations. Guilty or not, they are permanently branded.

At least two men from EPIC showed up ready for a theatrical showdown last week at the man's home. They knocked on the door and the man came outside. The EPIC pair ambushed him with accusations and waved papers in his face, all the while saying he solicited photos of an underage girl.

He told them to leave his property, but they did not. They shrieked rapid-fire accusations and quotes they claim he made to an EPIC decoy.

Visibly shaken, the man said, "I'm going to jail," while he seemed to struggle to understand the situation. His wife came out and the men pounced on her, asking if she knew what her husband was doing. She looked at the papers and retreated into the house. Her husband joined her, leaving the men alone and trespassing in the driveway.

Then EPIC called 911. They call police and share their information only after having their fun on video.

But within 15 minutes, the wife called 911 because she believed her distraught husband was going to shoot himself. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation. Police are investigating. He has not been charged with a crime but may as well be wearing a scarlet A.

Child predators should be harshly punished and undergo mental health treatment. But even those who are guilty deserve due process and an attorney. Vigilante posses don't get to choose who the suspects are and drag them out into the street for a freak show, but that's exactly what's happening. The community and the families involved deserve better. Shock and awe are not substitutes for police work.

The Boone County Prosecutor's Office recently partnered with all law enforcement agencies in the county to form a new system of investigation, the Child Abuse and Sexual Exploitation (C.A.S.E.) Task Force.

Our police handle cases responsibly to minimize trauma to families and protect victims. They connect those affected with mental health resources. They have strong instincts and good judgement. And they work up the internet chain to find others connected to their main target, like those who produce child exploitation materials.

EPIC is not just catching predators, as they claim. They're also creating new ones and pushing situations to a flash point so they can feel good about themselves. Whether they're helping children remains to be seen.

Child predators have mental health challenges, and intervention is nuanced and complex. But the vigilantes who entrap them could also be termed predators. They create situations and wring all the turmoil they can out of them.

It's dangerous and irresponsible to expose someone who is mentally unstable for a crime as explosive as child exploitation, especially when the accuser has no police authority and facilitated the crime.

It's hard to understand how EPIC's activities are legal and likely that something violent and irreversible will come of these confrontations.

EPIC and groups like them should find ways other than exploitation to prevent child exploitation. They could at least give police their evidence and skip the videos.

If they do not, legislation should be passed to stop their interference, no matter how well intentioned it may be.

Maria Flora writes for The Lebanon Reporter.

___

Visit The Lebanon Reporter (Lebanon, Ind.) at www.reporter.net

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.