This is part two of a two-part series about what鈥檚 wrong with the Creep Catchers

When Marie Bullon started with Ryan Laforge and the there were rules, there was a structure, and they figured they were working within the grey lines of the law.

But that didn鈥檛 last and the methodical if vigilante acts of finding sexual predators online, gathering evidence, documenting meetings, and forwarding it on to police wasn鈥檛 good enough for Laforge.

鈥淗e started to change the rules,鈥� Bullon says. 鈥淭here were no rules. When it came to chatting he would say whatever. That鈥檚 illegal, I wouldn鈥檛 participate in that.鈥�

She recalls watching a live feed at home one time of one of Laforge鈥檚 confrontations and she can hear a fight breaking out as the live feed cuts.

鈥淗e decided to beat the crap out of this guy,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t was very much a gang mentality.鈥�

The gang metaphor works in other ways, in that there is an in crowd and an out crowd. If you question the group in anyway from without, you are labelled a pedophile or a pedophile lover, colloquially a 鈥済oof鈥� in the vernacular of these guys.

And if you question from within, also like a gang, you are ex-communicated kicked out and similarly labelled.

Vocal Creep Catchers critic and collaborator on website lawyer Craig Jones sees similarities with the gang metaphor.

鈥淭hey are just completely enraptured in the echo chamber of their mutual adulation and just sort of feeding on that,鈥� Jones says. 鈥淚f anyone criticizes their dear leader they are immediately banned from the site.鈥�

Laforge鈥檚 response to his recent legal troubles 鈥� such as being charged with assault, and now being ordered by the to take videos down 鈥� is beyond belligerent.

鈥淢y name is Ryan Laforge and the OIPC CAN SUCK IT鈥� was one of his responses.

Defiance may be Laforge鈥檚 response, but it may get him into trouble. Jones explains the nuances of the privacy breaches Creep Catchers commits. To start with, the privacy complaint he filed in November 2016 took a long time to decide, because the OIPC had to decide that Creep Catchers was an organization. The OPIC laws only apply to organizations.

And as soon as an organization places a deceptive ad, they are breaking the law. So, for an example, if Becky in Vancouver places an ad and gets 100 responses, at some point Becky pulls the switch and says she鈥檚 only 14 years old and suddenly just five people carry on.

Because Creep Catchers is an organization, it has already committed 100 privacy offences because of the false advertising.

Then there are the laws being broken. Creep Catchers are self-appointed law enforcement officers in a sense, and they operate the way police stings operate. But if you go back and forth on chat logs and share images of underage girls, for example, to lure a sexual predator, you have committed the criminal offence of sharing child pornography.

鈥淭he police are allowed to do that,鈥� Jones explains. Under section 25 of the criminal code, designated peace officers can commit crimes during stings. The Creep Catchers can鈥檛.

But Jones鈥� gut opposition to the Creep Catchers is much more fundamental than their brashness or even the illegality.

鈥淭his whole idea of entertainment-driven vigilantism worries me,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t is fundamentally undemocratic and it is grossly unfair to the people they target. It goes against he rules of decency that we have as a society established over 500 years of struggle.鈥�

But what about Don Putt? The Creep Catchers busted Don Putt and now he is behind bars, having been convicted of three separate offences dating back to the 1970s.

鈥淵es, that鈥檚 the argument they make,鈥� Jones says. 鈥淚f you believe that the end always does justify the means then there is no answer to that.

鈥淚f, though, you accept what we鈥檝e accepted in western society for 400 years, then the end doesn鈥檛 justify the means. Process matters and protection of the innocent matters. We need to agree as a society on rules.鈥�

Is Jones worried about a backlash? A little bit. He said he had his own hashtag on social media for a while: #f鈥攌craigjones.

But mostly not.

鈥淗is supporters are very outspoken on his website and uniformly cowardly everywhere else,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey know we are a court order away from finding out the names.鈥�

As for Bullon, why does she do it? Like many or maybe even most of those involved in the movement, she鈥檚 been on the wrong side of sexual misconduct.

鈥淚 was vulnerable and taken advantage of by older men,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen I grew up we didn鈥檛 have this social media at the tip of our fingers. I see this underworld that is going on with the Internet and it scares the crap out of me.

鈥淪ometimes you feel like you aren鈥檛 even making a dent.鈥�

In the end, Laforge has vowed he won鈥檛 stop no matter how much he is fined or sent to jail. And given his near cult status by adoring followers who swoon over his every comment on social media, many of whom are unswayed by compassion, ethics, civility or even logic or laws, it鈥檚 unlikely he鈥檒l go away any time soon.

Laforge declined to comment for this story.

鈥� See Part One in this series on the problem with Creep Catchers .

paul.henderson@theprogress.com
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