By Guy Page

A Houston-based civilian group that unmasks child predators and leads them to police was active recently in Brattleboro, according to a video by Brattleboro News producer Hank Poitras.

The Brattleboro News video depicts police leading away a Main Street, Brattleboro resident on July 18, with Predator Poachers president Alex Rosen describing how the group posed as an 11-year-old open to a sexual encounter. Note: the video contains profanity. The arrest also was reported by the Brattleboro Reformer. 

Hunter Barrett,21, was arrested for luring a child and disseminating indecent material to a minor, according to a Brattleboro Police press release.

In the video, Rosen can be seen and heard telling everyone listening that police have just arrested someone who “invited an 11 year old girl to have sex with him, right here in your town.”

About Predator Poachers

Rosen says identifying adults seeking sexual contact with minors online is relatively easy, but successfully documenting cases requires careful planning and follow-through.

Speaking with investigative journalist Kristin Thorne on the February episode of Us Weekly’s “Uncovered,” Rosen described the methods used by his Houston-based organization, which conducts online sting operations targeting adults who allegedly seek sexual encounters with minors.

“So you guys essentially pose as a minor online, and then do you go out and try to find people? Or do you wait till they come to you?” Thorne asked.

Rosen replied that locating potential offenders online is “not hard.”

“I bet you could find probably 100 pedophiles online in a week, and that’s being conservative about it,” Rosen said.

According to Rosen, the greater challenge comes after initial contact. He said investigators must convincingly portray an underage child online while carefully documenting conversations and arranging meetings that can later be turned over to law enforcement.

“Finding them is not hard. The hard part is the logistics, selling that you’re a real kid, the tediousness of it,” Rosen said. “As for just identifying yourself as an underage kid online, you’re going to find a lot of pedos. Just the follow through is the tricky part.”

Predator Poachers says it works by having volunteers pose as minors online and communicate with adults who initiate sexually explicit conversations or attempt to arrange in-person meetings. The group frequently records confrontations with suspects and provides evidence to police, although prosecutions ultimately depend on law enforcement investigations and decisions by prosecutors.

The organization has gained a large following on social media through videos of its sting operations, while also drawing debate over the role of civilian groups in investigating suspected child predators. Law enforcement agencies generally encourage members of the public who encounter suspected child exploitation to preserve evidence and report it to authorities rather than conduct their own investigations.