PREDATOR POACHERS OR JUST PREDATORS?
October 1, 2024
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – In recent years, there has been a sharp uptick in what is known in the law enforcement world as cyber-vigilantes. People who claim they hunt down suspected pedophiles, or so they say.
When you hear the word vigilante, be sure not to get visions of a rough and tumble Charles Bronson or Chuck Norris. Instead, visualize a group of uneducated and unemployable misfits, sitting behind a computer screen, seemingly enjoying the sexual interactions with the alleged pedophiles… a bit too much. Basking gloriously in the limelight of the adoration from their online followers, who think they are heroes.
One look at these vigilantes, and you might get the impression that they probably don’t have much of a dating or sex life, so this may be the perfect substitute. Perhaps they were bullied in school as children, or maybe their homelife growing up wasn’t that good.
But Americans everywhere want to get pedophiles off the streets, right? Of course. And that is what these groups found they can profit from. Create the problem and provide the solution.
If the vigilantes cannot drum up salacious content, that means their businesses will die. Desperate for online content to keep their audiences fed, they must keep the money rolling in.
HOW DOES THE SCHEME WORK?
These unlicensed investigation companies claim they are taking the bad guys off the street. But there’s nothing heroic about these wannabe heroes interfering in important law enforcement matters, which more often than not, results in the alleged bad guys getting off the hook because the evidence these groups coerce from the alleged perps cannot be used in court much of the time – and the hunters know it.
In other words, they are taking no one off the streets. They aren’t making children any safer. The only thing they are making… is money.
That is because they are operating illegally, at least in the state of Texas, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the state agency that oversees investigation companies in Texas.
These illegal operations have zero legal authority and minimal credibility yet, some law enforcement agencies in small towns still take them seriously, despite these groups own illegal activities such as Online Impersonation, Cyber stalking and a host of other possible crimes, several of which are felonies in Texas. If the vigilantes are not willing to operate their businesses legally, there should be a presumption that they are not obtaining evidence legally either.
Take the internet celebrity “predator poacher” Alex Rosen (AKA Chet Goldstein and Gordon Flowers) who operates his unlicensed investigation business Predator Poachers LLC located at 10611 Atwell Drive, in the city of Houston, according to the Secretary of State website. Rosen, age 24, operates from home where he lives with his parents. His father, Neal Rosen, is a comedian in Houston, going by the name of the “Corporate Comedian”.
Ironically, the home based business is located right across the street from an elementary school in the Meyerland area of Houston. This is important to note because some sources believe that these so-called hunters are doing this as cover for their own pedophilia.
Rosen’s “business” not only isn’t registered as a business in Harris County or the City of Houston, but also operates without the state mandated credentials. According to DPS, those credentials are an important starting point, but just a starting point.
Sec. 1702.104. INVESTIGATIONS COMPANY. (a) A person acts as an investigations company for the purposes of this chapter if the person: (1) engages in the business of obtaining or furnishing, or accepts employment to obtain or furnish, information related to:
(A) crime or wrongs done or threatened against a person, state, or the United States;
(B) the identity, habits, business, occupation, knowledge, efficiency, loyalty, movement, location, affiliations, associations, transactions, acts, reputation, or character of a person;
At a minimum, to qualify for the license, the person must show three years verifiable experience as an investigator with a licensed investigations company or a bachelor’s degree in a related field, they must obtain insurance, submit fingerprints for themselves and all agents, submit to a background check for themselves and all agents, provide photos and a social security number for all agents, pursue certification and training requirements and of course, pay the fees.
Incidentally, Texas law (Texas Code of Criminal Procedure – CRIM P Art. 38.23. Evidence not to be used) says that illegally obtained evidence cannot be used as evidence.
When operating across state lines, the stakes get higher. Every state has their own laws and of course, the federal government wants their own piece of the pie – just like with any other interstate business.
In other words, we need to know who is out there hunting people down. The idea that they refuse to operate legally should be a huge red flag, at least to most people. What are they hiding? Why can’t they qualify for a license?
These cyber-vigilantes want the public to believe they are do-gooders, but do-gooders operate within the confines of the law, cooperating with the police, making sure everything goes as it should. Do-gooders don’t do it for fame and fortune. This is why the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) strongly denounces cyber-vigilante groups. So do many law enforcement and government agencies, including in Rosen’s own hometown, who will not take his cases.
Chris Seufert, the lead prosecutor for the Houston Metro ICAC task force, says “virtually all of the cases that cyber vigilantes like Rosen have referred to law enforcement in the Houston area are not prosecutable.”
As a result, Rosen now targets “podunk” towns, mostly Republican areas according to him. Towns that lack the resources and knowledge to know how these cases are legally required to be handled, leading to a profitable on camera arrest for Rosen, a big expense for taxpayers, but no conviction for the alleged predator.
While these vigilantes successfully manipulate their audience into believing that they are essentially law enforcement “helpers”, vigilantism actually stems from a distrust for law enforcement. Imagine if you will, a vigilante who has no license, no training and no relevant education whatsoever, thinking that he’s smarter than highly trained law enforcement officials. This is why states such as Maine, Michigan and even Wisconsin have put these unlicensed investigators on notice.
The national Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) standards and the ICAC task force do not “approve, condone, encourage, or promote cyber‐vigilantism by private citizens.” The information that these groups provide should be considered as information‐only, which must be corroborated via independent investigative techniques. It is unlikely that prosecutors would be able to bring a criminal case based solely upon whatever is collected by a vigilante group.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice states, “It’s important for potential vigilantes to know that vigilante operations interfere with law enforcement operations. For example, when vigilantes confront a potential suspect, that can cause the suspect to move to a different online platform, which can interrupt or even altogether thwart an ongoing law enforcement investigation. Law enforcement professionals know how to follow proper procedures that will support a successful prosecution; in contrast, vigilantes do not follow these same procedures, which can undermine a successful prosecution. Vigilante operations also could prompt a suspect to lash out, putting everyone in the vicinity in danger.”
“We must encourage citizens to trust law enforcement efforts on these matters. Law enforcement officers have extensive training on how to safely apprehend suspects and ensure that the evidence they obtain can lead to a successful conviction”, said Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul.
The Michigan State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force has highly trained, certified law enforcement investigators assigned across the state of Michigan. They work under strict guidelines put in place by the ICAC Task Force to crack down on child predators.
“Our priority is always public safety,” said Lt. James Ellis, commander of the MSP Cyber Section. “Taking matters into your own hands is dangerous and extremely harmful to a successful prosecution. Digital evidence collection, for example, has strict rules that must be followed for a case to legally move forward. Vigilantes also open themselves up to civil litigation and criminal charges when acting outside of what laws allow.”
Now, some of the illegal operators are being sued for defamation, civil rights violations and other crimes against the targets of the poachers. A Colorado special needs man was targeted by a poacher group after he discovered their non-profit status was a lie. A reminder of why police work is best left to the police.
It should come as no surprise that many of these poachers have their own legal issues. Take Colorado’s Tommy Fellows from Colorado Ped Patrol. Fellows was arrested in 2024 for child abuse of his own children. He was subsequently deplatformed from social media channels and local law enforcement stated that they will no longer work with him or groups like his.
Take the one case where a so-called pedophile hunting group groomed a 13 year old boy, having sexual conversations with him for quite some time, pretending to be a 12 year old girl, then setting up a meeting which resulted in them posting his photo and calling him a pedophile online. His parents are suing and the police are pursuing charges against the vigilantes.
The vigilantes seem to think it is okay for they themselves to engage in the exchange of pedophilia and inappropriate conversations under the guise of “investigations”, but in reality, they have no such authority.
In September of this year, a predator poaching group in Memphis was arrested for Conspiracy to Commit a Crime and Assault when they slapped one of their targets. Needless to say, the alleged predator was let off the hook. Once again, not helping children at all.
The issue is this – the vast majority of sane and rational people want pedophiles off the street so they can no longer target innocent children. But the cases are hard to prove. The evidence must be precise and beyond a reasonable doubt. Laws have to be followed in order to get a guilty verdict. So, when these groups interfere in what would normally be a matter for the police, things go wrong. Aside from the possibility of innocent bystanders getting injured or even killed, when “evidence” is gathered illegally, by people who have no legal authority to gather the “evidence”, more than likely the case will not move forward.
Perhaps this explains why Rosen brags about all the arrests he has facilitated, but by his own admission, the number of convictions is very minimal. So minimal that he won’t give an exact number and the number that he does talk about is likely the result of the arrested person being forced into a plea deal because they simply cannot afford bail or a competent attorney.
Considering Rosen’s self-described Libertarianism, you have to ask, what about the constitution? What happened to supporting the police and backing the blue? What about presumed innocent until proven guilty? All those elements are missing here. In fact, before any conviction at all, Rosen publicly states that his targets are in fact pedophiles.
Take one recent case where Rosen and his team groomed and manipulated a mentally retarded 24 year old for several months VIA text and social media, making him think he was his friend. The target thought the person he was talking to was a 22 year old musician, that is what the profile said when he googled the phone number of the person he was communicating with. Sowing confusion in his target’s minds has become a recurring theme from Rosen, who has publicly admitted his disdain and disgust of not only the mentally retarded, but also for gays, Jews, blacks, Indians, “spics” and several other groups and races.
In that case, Rosen lured the young man into a cooperative small Texas town, Devine, to meet up in a Walmart parking lot. Watching the heavily edited video, it is clear the disabled man is being coached what to say, and he sounds very scripted. Rosen then asks him, “Did anyone tell you what to say”? The confused target responds with “no”.
The Devine police department then put out a press release claiming Rosen “tracked him down” to the small town. Nothing could be further from the truth. Why lie to the public? The police are endangering the very public they are supposed to serve. This particular police department seems perfectly fine with someone coming in from out of town, bringing potentially dangerous people with them. The public deserves to know the truth.
In fact, this was not the first time they have coordinated with Rosen. There have been others.
And it’s by design. Alex Rosen has a well-known hatred which likely leads him to target them specifically. Even his Twitter profile claims he is located in “Retardville”. One of his social media videos taken by him shows him calling out “f*cking retards” and in another online interview he strongly implies that he has a thing about catching “sped” kids, that is special ed kids. Remember, some police departments willingly work with Rosen.
The scheme sounds a lot like racketeering. 
If there could be anything worse than someone who preys on innocent children, it would be someone who preys on the mentally ill and those who are intellectually and mentally slow. Sadly, people who are easily manipulated and wanting to please in order to make friends. It is all diabolical when you consider the profit motive and the need for social media likes.
Rosen and his underground brethern believe they are above the law. And when they don’t get their way, they tell their cult-like followers “you know what to do”, that is harass the police and the alleged pedophile. Many of his followers have publicly suggested that they should be subject to “a bullet in the head”.
The lack of ethics and professionalism, along with the entrapment element makes these cases a hard sell for juries. In September, Rosen attempted to have one Detroit, Michigan man arrested. When the police did not show up, Rosen physically took the man to another jurisdiction in Warren Michigan to have him arrested. That may constitute kidnapping. Throwing the ultimate wrench into any potential case. No matter to Rosen, who got his on camera arrest, who got to play hero, and who got paid big bucks for feeding his hungry audience.
It’s straight out of a dystopian novel.
Another recent situation that Rosen filmed shows him cursing out a female law enforcement agent because she expressed her frustration with cyber-vigilantes, knowing the unusable “evidence” was not going to meet the standards. He continued to curse at her, threaten her and berate her. This scenario has played out more than once, with Rosen repeatedly accusing law enforcement agencies and other government workers of being pedophiles themselves, then he tries to get his audience to turn against them as well.
He manipulates his targets, he manipulates law enforcement agencies, he manipulates the law, he manipulates his audience.
So yes, the hunters will get their moment on camera, they will continue to profit, they will get their kudos from gullible audience members who want to believe the hunters are doing a good thing… but children will be no safer, and any real pedophiles who may have been contacted are now on high alert – which now makes a hard case even harder for the police.
Who wins in this situation? Only the vigilantes. All the way to the bank.