Ector County (1080 KRLD) - Catching child predators is best left to the Police. But don't tell that to a small group of West Texans.
They are setting up fake dating profiles and telling the men on the app they are 15-year-old girls. When the man shows up for a meetup, the vigilantes confront him, videotaping the encounter.
Ector County sheriff's office spokeswoman Shirlee Hardee tells citizens don't try to be a hero. These men could have a weapon and the citizen trying to catch a predator, would get hurt or killed. "It kind of makes you think of the wild, wild west where they're not thinking about law, they're not thinking about order. That's why we have the court system and why laws are set up, so they can go through the judicial system the way it is supposed to be."
She says the danger these citizens are putting themselves in is "astronomical."
She also says they are looking at some of these cases "but at this point, they've kind of tied our hands because we can't do anything because of the vigilante end of things. They're not breaking the law, so we're between a rock and a hard place as far as what we can do."
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