A parent posts accusations on message boards that someone he knows is a child molester.
Then this parent is an idiot. When you think someone is committing a crime against children, or a crime where the chain of evidence is the crux of the state being willing and able to bring a crimal case, there is only ONE appropriate response: to contact law enforcement. Baiting, deleting, getting involved, are things that only muddle any possible case.
He can't offer proof other than two of his friend's sons said the accused grabbed them years ago. (The accused denies it and said they made it up, and there are no police complaints on file).
The court of public opinion is only that. No police report? No criminal case? No convictions, even for lesser charges? No proof is no proof (up until there IS proof).
The accuser's kid gets porn sent to his yahoo account.
And was this appropriately reported, to both Yahoo and authorities?
The account is deleted,
Someone thought this was a good idea because......?
but the accuser thinks the alleged child molester sent it,
Too bad they deleted the account then.
but because the account was deleted, the evidence is gone.
For all intents and purposes, yes. A skilled computer forensics expert could probably do a lot, but police aren't going to dedicate that level of resource when the accuser's own actions are working against the case.
So the accuser creates a new yahoo account for his son, then puts his young son up to emailing the alleged child molester to taunt him in an effort to bait him.
If this is true, accuser needs to get some psychological help and start planning on how to fight the legal system when CPS eventually removes the child from the home. Using one's child for "bait" is a great way for that child to become a child of the STATE. Of course the accuser is going to state that is was themself acting as the child, and not the child itself. But either way, the accuser is doing much more harm than good to any possible criminal case that might be possible. Accuser needs to figure out that they are NOT law enforcement, and their personal vandetta/sting is more likely to end in problems for THEM than for the potential child molestor.
My question: Is coercing young child into baiting child molesters via email a violation of some law? Like maybe child exploitation laws?
There are probably several, but it only takes ONE. "Failure to protect" issues can get the child removed immediately and placed in the care of the state while the criminal case is investigated. Criminal charges will depend on what can be PROVEN. In cases like this, it's not difficult to prove which computer was involved, but unless there is a direct witness to who was behind the keyboard, or police have a sting set up and know that only ONE person was in the house as a way to pinpoint who the computer USER was, there's almost no way to actually bring such a charge, against either the suspected molester or the interfering parent/accuser - which is why involving law enforcement and letting THEM determine the investigative methods for the situation is crucial.
