03/21/2006
(U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES – Since a University of Southern California student was arrested Feb. 19 in Laguna Beach, Calif., on suspicion of attempted lewd acts with a minor, more light has been shed on the method used to arrest him. Benjamin Paul McAlister, a 21-year-old fourth-year architecture student, was caught in a sting operation by Perverted-Justice.com, a Web site designed to expose sex offenders and bring them to authorities. McAlister was caught participating in a sexually explicit conversation with an adult posing as a 13-year-old girl. He agreed to meet with the purported minor two hours after they began speaking, said Xavier Von Erck, founder of Perverted-Justice.com. Susan Schroeder, Orange County, Calif., deputy district attorney, said McAlister arrived at a Laguna Beach home owned by Perverted-Justice.com volunteers and was arrested. McAlister was one of 13 people arrested in the sting operation on Feb. 19, where adult volunteers from the Web site posed as 12- and 13-year-old girls in chat rooms to catch adults who solicit young girls for sex. Von Erck said the men caught that night were the first to act and were also aware of the proposed minors’ ages and what they looked like after the volunteers showed them decoy photos. “These guys are usually so eager as soon as you get into a (chat) room you get at least three predators immediately,” Von Erck said. If convicted of attempted lewd acts with a minor, McAlister and others caught in the sting operation could get up to four years in prison. While some have questioned the legality of posing as a young girl to expose potential sex offenders, law experts said that Perverted-Justice.com volunteers did not violate any entrapment laws. Capt. Danell Adams of the Laguna Beach Police Department acknowledged the discussion and concern about entrapment but she said the police department did not get “these people and (say) ‘get on the Internet.’ These people are already on the Internet (and we) inject ourselves into their conversations.” Thomas Griffith, a professor in the USC Gould School of Law, said what Perverted-Justice.com does is not entrapment because the group is not inducing the suspects. Griffith also said entrapment would be present only if Perverted-Justice.com approached and badgered the men into the situation. “These people probably feel trapped, but why are they on the Internet soliciting to young children?” Griffith said. To be charged with attempted lewd acts with a minor, the people caught “must have taken a substantial step to committing the crime,” Griffith said. Von Erck said his group knew what it were doing was not illegal or considered entrapment from the beginning of its operation. “We enter social networking sites, and guys will hit us up,” Von Erck said. “Whether it takes three days or three weeks, it’s up to the predator.” Perverted-Justice.com has never been sued; a family from Minnesota tried to get a restraining order against the group, but a judge dropped the suit. Edward Smith, a USC law professor, said because the accused took the initiative to meet the purported minors and traveled to do so, he is immediately held accountable and can be rightfully charged with attempted lewd acts with a minor. “There would be no crime if he didn’t go to meet her,” Smith said. Smith also said if the state can prove beyond reasonable doubt that the individual would have done the activity anyway, then he can be charged by the consent of the jury, but if the individual had enough sufficient proof to prove he would not, then it is up to the jury to decide whether he committed the act. “The attempt can be a crime in itself, and if you are getting someone to do something they wouldn’t have done, then it’s unfair.” Smith said. “Some people think it’s unfair, but the bottom line is that if they would have done it anyway, it’s not.” Some USC students and faculty said that while the alleged crime deserved a punishment, the four-year prison sentence McAlister might receive drew mixed reactions. “I don’t think it’s unfair (that the men got charged) because these guys who chose to meet with the minors knew what they were doing,” said Dominique Chaplin, a sophomore majoring in business administration. “But I don’t know if four years is the right punishment.” Some students said the men should have been forced to register as sex offenders or be charged with misdemeanor charges instead. “Just because (Perverted-Justice.com volunteers) are pretending to be young girls, for these people to receive four years in prison doesn’t seem fair,” said Suzanne Lewis, a sophomore majoring in gender studies. “It should be a real instance rather than a fake instance for them to receive jail time.” “I have ethical issues of somebody pretending to be under-the-age just to set these guys up,” Lewis said. But others said the charge put against these men was fair and fit the crime. “Four years seems pretty reasonable,” Griffith said. “(Attempting lewd acts with a minor) is a pretty serious crime.” “Attempt is just as bad as doing the act,” said David Yi, a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. “Thank God it wasn’t carried out,” he said.