As ‘child predator hunters’ go viral, states grapple with the risks of civilian stings

3:00 republished Across the country, dozens of civilian groups, or vigilantes, are posing as children online, arranging meetings with adults they suspect of seeking sex with minors and livestreaming the confrontations to thousands of viewers. The groups say they are helping protect children and bring suspected predators to justice. But some law enforcement officials and legal experts warn that their tactics can jeopardize criminal investigations, complicate prosecutions and put public safety at risk. Public accusations can also have lasting consequences for people who are never charged with a crime, while some groups encourage their followers to pressure police to make arrests. There is no definitive count of civilian predator-hunting groups, but dozens of groups operate across different parts of the country, including major cities. Stateline identified nearly 50 individuals or groups nationwide that have posted online content exposing suspected child predators. For state lawmakers and law enforcement officials, the growing presence of these groups adds another layer of complexity to efforts to combat online child sexual exploitation while protecting children and preserving the integrity of criminal investigations. “What is beyond dispute is we have a massive problem of child exploitation in this country that takes various forms,” said Mary Graw Leary, a law professor at the Catholic University of America whose work focuses on the exploitation of women and children. Graw Leary is a former state and federal prosecutor. “We cannot criminalize our way out of it only because there’s just too much of it.” Catching and prosecuting people who sexually exploit children is important, experts say, but it addresses only part of the problem. Preventing abuse also requires teaching adults and children to recognize warning signs, creating environments where children feel safe speaking up and are heard, and holding institutions and online platforms accountable. “The criminal justice response, I think, is appropriate, warranted, and important, but it’s not the only thing that we should be doing as a society or as communities,” said Stacy Vaughan, the vice president of growth and prevention at Childhelp, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing and responding to child abuse. When a viral video isn’t enough The scale of online child sexual exploitation is immense. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received 21.3 million reports through its CyberTipline in 2025, including about 1.4 million reports of online enticement of children for sexual acts — a 158% increase from 2024 –– and more than 19.5 million reports involving child sexual abuse material. Popularized by NBC’s Dateline series “To Catch a Predator,” which aired in the early 2000s, civilian predator-hunting groups use adult decoys posing as children or teenagers online to contact people they suspect of seeking sex with minors, then confront them on camera. The accusations can make for compelling viral content. People accused of targeting children often have little public sympathy, and videos promising to expose and humiliate them can attract viewers with little interest in what happens after the camera shuts off. Quotation The best way for these groups to be helpful would be for them to involve law enforcement when they get the first nibble on their line. – Matt Irvine, a retired detective who investigated sex crimes in California and Oregon Some vigilante groups involve law enforcement only after a sting is complete, or if a confrontation turns violent. That can leave responding officers with an incomplete picture of what happened, how the encounter unfolded and whether the evidence supports criminal charges. Digital evidence — the online conversations and promises — must be authenticated and preserved to establish its origin, integrity and handling. Recordings can also raise legal questions, experts say, including whether groups violated state wiretapping laws when capturing private conversations. “The best way for these groups to be helpful would be for them to involve law enforcement when they get the first nibble on their line,” said Matt Irvine, a retired detective with 29 years of law enforcement experience who investigated sex crimes and cold-case sexual assaults in California and Oregon. When police are involved from the start, he said, detectives  can conduct a more thorough investigation, check a suspect’s criminal history and obtain search warrants. The financial arrangements behind the videos can raise additional concerns if group members are called as witnesses in criminal cases. Some groups can earn advertising revenue from videos posted online, while others offer paid memberships through platforms such as YouTube, Rumble, Kick and Locals, where subscribers can get earlier or exclusive access than nonmembers to videos, updates, unedited footage and chat logs. Those financial incentives could become relevant in court, particularly if prosecutors or defense attorneys question whether a witness had a financial interest in producing a confrontation or attracting viewers. “If they are selling the confrontation videos and profiting from that, that would be an ethical issue in a criminal case,” said Kelly Callihan, the executive director of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association. “If we’re going to call them as a witness, that would have to be something that we would disclose to the defense.” Some predator-catching groups also criticize police or prosecutors when a person is not arrested or charged, encouraging viewers to contact and complain to officials about their decisions. “These predator groups now, I feel like, are escalating from shaming the alleged perpetrators of these acts to crossing a line where they’re shaming district attorneys who aren’t bringing these charges, even though they have valid reasons not to do so,” Callihan said. Public confrontations Videos of civilian predator-catching operations sometimes show violent confrontations. In one viral video from 2024, members of Dads Against Predators surround a man at an H-E-B grocery store in Austin, Texas, and strike him in the back of the head with a pumpkin. The man, James Schellhase, filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against the Ohio-based group in September, alleging that its members assaulted him, tried to extort him and cost him his job as a chief executive. Schellhase had been communicating online with people who later claimed to be minors, according to the lawsuit. He said he believed the interaction was a prank or scam and wanted to confront them. The group accused him of trying to meet a child for sex. Schellhase alleges that Dads Against Predators demanded $400,000 to keep the confrontation video from being released and that the footage was sent to his employer, according to the lawsuit. He says the encounter damaged his career. One of the group’s co-founders, Joshua Alvin Mundy, has denied wrongdoing. Dads Against Predators has been linked to multiple suicides involving people the group filmed. The group has also faced scrutiny from law enforcement in California, Florida, North Carolina and Texas, where members have been arrested or authorities have urged them to stop their activities. In 2020, the Sandusky County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio warned the group that it could face prosecution if it continued its “vigilante efforts.” But the concerns extend beyond physical safety. Public accusations may also target people who have committed no crime and jeopardize investigations by alerting suspects before police can gather evidence, identify additional victims or pursue other leads. In April of this year, livestreamer Vitaly Zdorovetskiy and his crew falsely accused a 25-year-old man of trying to meet a 16-year-old girl for sex during a confrontation at a Southern California park, prompting online harassment of the man and his family. Police detained the man, but released h