These amateur vigilantes bring down online ‘predators’ — sometimes leading to suicide
Blame it on — or credit, depending on how you look at it — Chris Hansen.
The OG of what are now called “predator catchers” only headlined his NBC “Dateline” segment “To Catch a Predator” from 2004 to 2007. But he spawned what’s become a national phenomenon of mostly amateur young men going after suspected pedophiles in stings — and often livestreaming the ambushes online.
The predator catchers, who number in the dozens if not the hundreds, are spread across the country and go by group names like Predator Poachers, Vans Against Predators, Bikers Against Predators, Dads Against Predators and Predator Catchers Inc. They get results, even if local law enforcement agencies sometimes criticize them as reckless vigilantes.
The busts can turn violent. And sometimes the alleged “pedos,” as the predator catchers refer to them, commit suicide after being confronted.
Last month, the group Dads Against Predators posted footage of a chaotic bust in the parking lot of a Target on East Sandford Boulevard in Mount Vernon, NY. The alleged target, William C.C. Kemp-Neal, 30, quit his post as a prosecutor in the Bronx District Attorney’s Office four days later.
Dads Against Predators is run by Josh “Shua” Mundy, 31, and Jay Carnicom, 30. They told The Post they “set up” in the Bronx last month for about four days to set their sting into motion.
Dads Against Predators’ methods are similar to a number of other predator catchers interviewed by The Post. They create fake profiles of 12- to 13-year-old boys or girls — usually using FaceApp, a photo and editing tool that can make an adult look like a child.
They then upload the photos to profiles on dating sites like Grindr, Meetme, Skout or Whisper.
“That’s all we do,” Mundy told The Post. “The profiles don’t give any information other than the fact that it’s a young kid. We don’t have leads of any sort. We never write to anyone first. That’s a common misconception. We’re like fishermen. We stand by and wait.”
On his Instagram, Mundy details how men come out of the woodwork to invite 13-year-olds — not knowing they aren’t real — to “cuddle and ‘make love,'” practice bondage, and stay the weekend with them and “be a good little boy.”
Mundy said he and his partner often “catch” up to 16 would-be predators in a typical four-day sting at locations around the US.
He said that Kemp-Neal, the Bronx assistant district attorney, was one of the smarter ones.
“He didn’t want to get out of his car,” Mundy recalled. “A lot of them want to see the kid first and they want to meet in a more private setting. But we turn that around and say we want to meet in a public place, which is safer.”
In the clip filmed around 8:30 p.m. July 8, the video vigilantes approach a man they later identified as Kemp-Neal, asking if he’s Marcus. Almost immediately, Kemp-Neal — who made $84,990 as an ADA handling mostly assault, harassment and child endangerment cases — runs.
“Child predator in the Bronx!” Carnicom screams as a random bystander gets “Marcus” in a headlock, ending his escape.
“You wanna take him to get a milkshake, right, Marcus?” asks one of the men, referring to the made-up young boy whom “Marcus” was supposed to meet.
“I didn’t,” Kemp-Neal replies.
Kemp-Neal is manhandled by the random man and his eyes bulge as the chokehold intensifies, the video shows.
Mount Vernon cops responded, and questioned the people present.
Police said in a statement that officers “encountered several individuals making allegations of wrongdoing,” and promised a “comprehensive investigation.” Kemp-Neal has not been charged with any crime, nor have the men who confronted him.
The Post has been unable to contact Kemp-Neal as his phone is apparently disconnected.
A number of the vigilante groups were formed around 2018 or 2019. The amateur predator catchers interviewed by The Post say they make enough in subscriptions to their online channels and related merchandise to support themselves.
Some of the predator catchers have their own origin stories of being molested when young. Others say they saw Hansen’s work or watched similar groups on YouTube and wanted to join the fray.
In Carnicom’s case, his desire to catch predators stemmed from his own trauma as an 11-year-old in Fremont, Ohio, where, he said, he was repeatedly molested by a family friend.
Carnicom, who is now the father of four daughters and a son, told The Post he was so affected by the molestation that he thought about it every day even as an adult. He added that he was further traumatized by seeing the man, whom he identified as Steve Walker, around town.
One day in 2020, Carnicom confronted Walker at a local Walmart in Ohio and accused him of molestation, filming the eight-minute encounter and posting it online.
Walker killed himself that night, Carnicom said.
According to Carnicom, after Walker’s death, local law enforcement demanded that Dads Against Predators stop its work or face possible charges.
Carnicom now lives in Austin, Texas. Mundy has since moved to Detroit with his family.
Mundy said five alleged predators targeted by Dads Against Predators have committed suicide.
Alex Rosen, who formed Predator Poachers in Houston in 2019, ambushed an alleged pedophile in South Dakota last month — only to watch him go into his house and shoot himself in the head after the man admitted to watching child porn.
According to Rosen, Donald Letcher, 60, described in graphic detail disturbing videos that featured children as young as infants after Rosen showed up to confront him about nude photos Letcher had requested of an underage girl. The “girl” was actually a decoy account set up by Rosen.
The footage of the encounter was shown on “The Breanna Morello Show” podcast.
Rosen told The Post that requesting nude photos, as Letcher allegedly did, is a “gray area” and not always illegal. But, he added, he had a “hunch” that Letcher might be involved in more serious stuff.
Rosen, 24, said he shows up alone to confront the alleged pedophiles, with a two-man backup team sitting in a car at a safe distance. He said he bluffs his targets into thinking he’s more of a buddy trying to help them — which often prompts them to spill their secrets, as Letcher did.
He recalled speaking to Letcher for an hour, during which time the suspect admitted watching porn that featured males holding down babies as they “ejaculated” on them. Eventually, Rosen said the word “fried pickles” — code “which, to my team, means call the police.”
Cops showed up within minutes. Letcher allegedly admitted his crimes to them while standing outside, then walked back into his house — from which a “pop” was heard.
Letcher shot himself in the head with a .22.
“The cop breaks the door down and then one of my camera guys goes around the window and sees him [Letcher] on the ground with a hole in his head bleeding out of it,” Rosen said.
“It’s so cliche to say these pedos need a bullet in the head, I think they deserve the death penalty,” Rosen said. “Yes, it is a human life. It’s one thing if you’re a 20-year-old guy messaging a 15-year-old. But if you’re into babies and you’re molesting a 9-year-old, I have no sympathy. These people would often get just a slap on the wrist if it weren’t for us.”
Letcher reportedly molested a 9-year-old girl in 1996, but the case was overturned by the South Dakota Supreme Court — a fact unknown to Rosen at the time of the confrontation.
“The justice system never held him accountable,” Rosen said.
Rosen claims that his team’s cases have resulted in arrests in 46 states and convictions in 40 since 2019. He said that, unlike other predator catchers, he never physically assaults the alleged pedophiles.
Hansen, who left NBC in 2013, has continued catching predators on his watchtrublu.com streaming network. But he said he has doubts about how many of the new crop of pedophile hunters operate.
Hansen told The Post he always works with law enforcement on his cases so as to help ensure convictions.
“In these vigilante cases, it’s true that some bad guys are exposed, but because of their methodology and how they often make such a show of it, they are tainted cases,” Hansen said. “They can act clownish or they assault people and regardless of what they might say, their cases rarely get prosecuted.”
