Times-Pic sportswriter arrested in Internet sex sting

The guy obviously has some serious issues, and preditors are the scum of the earth. I have a young kid and don't want this guy anywhere near him.

But I'm still wondering how you can be charged with a crime that didn't happen against a person who doesn't exist.

 

I make exceptions in cases like this. Do whatever you can to get these guys, because as I'm sure this alleged incident has taught some of us, you never know.

 

I believe the crime was solicitation of a minor over the Internet. Doesn't have to be a real person - just intent.

 

I'd agree (THAT'S AGREE, TO WHATEVER GOVERNMENT ENTITY IS MONITORING THIS THREAD).

But I also think it raises some serious Constitutional issues, like the right to confront your accuser and actually having the prosecution produce a victim.

 

What is this Constitution thing of which you speak? ??? 8)

 

Entrapment, no?

 

It's entrapment if you somehow coerce somebody into doing something he or she would ordinarily not do.

No adult male, on a whim, decides to try, just for the hell of it, arranging for sex with a teenager.

Maybe I'm a bit sensitive, because I just found out the guy on my block who got busted for trading in kiddie porn (nine-to-12-year-old girls) is being forgiven by his wife and is coming back. In other news, I have a daughter who is 7, and just got banned from going to that house to see her classmate. (Her classmate is welcome at our house, however.)

 

Damn, that's a scary thought. If that happened near me, I'd want to gather every other father of a young child in the neighborhood, go to the man's house together and let him know exactly what would happen if he dared go near one of our children.

 

Yeah, and the guy from Washington, PA can edit the thing.

 

Dumbest. Guy. Ever.

How can any newspaper guy not know about these things?

Odds the guy's a regular on here?

 

I can see the positive and the negative in a sting like this. As a father, I don't want child predators out there, and I recognize you'd rather catch them BEFORE the crime, not after.

That being said, without a "real" victim, it is a bit dicey.

In the long run, protecting children wins out over this guy being set up.

 

I'm about as liberal as guys get, but I'd argue the real victim here would be a society that continues to lose a percentage of its future pillars through this sort of victimization. In order to get clipped for this you've got to not only chat on the Internet,you have to then show up for the deed ... if the electrons in your brain don't get you back to where you need to be on the drive over and then before you walk in the door to diddle the teeny-bopper, you've got issues that need to be dealt with. Laws and tactics and -- yup -- the Constitution, has to evolve in order to keep up with this shit.


Of course, I have a 2-year-old son, so I am biased here in a big way.