Pedophiles – What I learned Volunteering for Perverted Justice
Pedophiles are a huge problem in this day and age. With the wide-spread usage of the internet, pedophiles are more comfortable than ever. Please don’t read this if you are offended by this type of material. Graphic language will not be used but some things will be disturbing to read.
A great deal of my time has been spent volunteering for an organization called “Perverted Justice”. If you have ever watched the show “To Catch a Predator”, you will realize that these two organizations are the same. If you have never heard of either, Perverted Justice is a non-profit organization that investigates and helps police track down child predators.
What is Perverted Justice?
Perverted Justice has a group of volunteers that look and sound under the legal age of 18. These volunteers visit areas on the internet that are known hot-spots for child predators. These places are usually chat rooms, forums and etc. Volunteers pretend to be a child under the age of 18 while they’re in these chat rooms. Almost always, a pedophile will approach the volunteer and strike up a conversation. Many times things get very inappropriate and eventually a real life meeting is set up. If the predator goes through with the meeting, they are then bombarded by the police and arrested. This is what you will see on the show “To Catch a Predator”. However, this is just one part of the organization.
The part of the organization that I volunteered with was what I describe as being an online investigation. Aliases and online identities of known pedophiles were given to us. We would scour the internet to dig up any information that may lead to this persons true identity. It was like putting together a puzzle, every little thing helped us create, “the bigger picture”. I was able to tract down a few to the point of having satellite images of their homes. Once we found any information on these predators, we then had to gather evidence in a way that would hold up in court. We always had to get screen shots and documentation of everything. Many volunteers have testified in court, I never did.
Why I Stopped Volunteering
I was a volunteer for Perverted Justice for around a year. I was pregnant with my first child during this time. Things like this don’t bother you that same way as it does once you have children. Once I had my son, I became very paranoid that someone might hurt him. It was a terrible obsession and I eventually had to stop volunteering for Perverted Justice. The things that I learned while volunteering literally shook me to the core. I just couldn’t do it anymore. It was disturbing me on a level that I can’t even begin to describe. It was like I was looking directly into the nasty minds some very sick individuals. There was no censorship in many of the places that I visited.
Some Things I Learned
Since my job was to investigate these sickos online, I would frequent their forums and websites. Many things are too graphic to post here but I am going to give you a summary of what I saw.
There are TONS of pedophiles. It’s not a rare thing.
Before I became a volunteer, I truly believed that pedophiles were rare. You would be amazed at how many predators there are out there. It is very likely that you come in to contact with one everyday. These predators are your co-workers, family, friends, neighbors, doctors and even the teacher at your childs school. They are everywhere and can be anyone.
Most Pedophiles like younger kids.
Most of the pedophiles that I investigated liked children 14 and under. This is not your case of a 23 year old falling in love with a 17 year old kid. It’s much uglier than that.
They like toddlers and babies as well.
Babies are not as common as toddlers, but I have heard a few pedophiles proclaiming their attraction to babies. Some of the pedophiles spoke of hanging around playgrounds to watch children play. Sometimes the children were approached in front of the parents. These pedophiles have bragged to each other about how smart they were because the parents would never suspect a thing. Most parents would never suspect an adult having an attraction to their small child but it’s a very real thing. Your kids are not exempt just because they are young. I once believed this as well. The things that I heard these predators say about young children is something that I pray I forget. It’s that bad. These people are that bad.
Most children are attacked by a pedophile that they know.
It’s very rare that a child is attacked by a stranger. It’s always a person that the parent has trusted with their child. Many pedophiles brag about “touching” a child when the parent wasn’t looking or in another room. Child predators will do anything to spend time with your child. They will make you believe that it’s okay to leave your child with them. The predator will shower your child with gifts. They call this “grooming”. Some predators will spend years “grooming” both parent and child. They literally fall in love with these children. Their skewed mentality leads them to believe that the child is in love with them as well. They truly believe that these children want them in a romantic way. One pedophile stated to another in an online forum that a child was “flirting” with him. The child he spoke of was very young, under 10.
Pedophiles love jobs that allow them to interact with children.
I investigated one pedophile that worked at a boarding school for children. I wanted to catch this one so bad. I can’t even begin to tell you the nightmarish details that I learned about this predator. Child predators will do whatever they can to be around children. I guarantee you there are pedophiles (yes, it’s plural for a reason) in every school. This was one of the most sough after jobs (it seemed like to me) that pedophiles were after. Santa Clause was another huge one. I can’t tell you how many Santa Clauses I saw online in these forums. Again, they continuously bragged about the parents having no clue. You can’t make this stuff up guys, it’s real. Just picture any situation that allows a person to work closely with kids and you will find pedophiles. It makes my blood boil remembering these things.
There are more male pedophiles than women but there are still a ton of women pedophiles.
Women are suppose to be maternal beings. I can’t understand how a woman could be a pedophile but there are plenty of them. Actually, one of the predators that I found their real life identity was a woman. You never would have known either. She was a young and attractive woman. She looked completely normal.
Pedophiles are not only looking for children of the opposite sex.
It seemed like there were more homosexual child predators than heterosexual.
Pedophiles talk to children online pretending to be their age.
Yes, they lie about their age. Sometimes they even lie about their sex. Young children have met these predators in real life in these scenarios. Sometimes pedophiles will pretend to be your kids age online to earn their trust. An 11 year old boy could be a 55 year old man. This is what makes the internet so dangerous for kids. You must monitor your children online. Keep them off Facebook especially because pedophiles love looking for kids there. I dread the day my children start getting online.
Pedophiles are looking at your childs photos online, right now.
Pedophiles scan the internet for pictures of children. They love looking at your kids pictures online, especially ones where they are partially clothed. Don’t ever post a half naked picture of your toddler or child of any age online. Don’t ever post pictures of your kids in bathing suits either. Pedophiles are on Facebook as we speak downloading these types of photos. You may have a cute photo of your 2-3 year old sitting in the bath and want to share it online but please don’t do this. It’s best that you lock your photos to only people that you know and trust. It’s even better if you keep your photos off of the internet.
My biggest tip for those with children.
My biggest tip to those of you with children is: If someone is showing your child a strange amount of interest (strangers/acquaintances/friends/co-workers/anyone) open your eyes. Never ignore it. Never let someone be alone with your child that you are not 110% comfortable with. If someone wants to have a lot of alone time with your child, then that should throw up a red flag anyway. (I am not speaking about Grandparents and close family members that you trust) It’s always better to be safe than sorry. Never think that your child will tell you if something bad happens, they usually don’t. If you have a strange feeling about someone, trust your instinct.
Have a code word for those allowed to pick your kids up from school. Make your child know this code and tell them not to leave with anyone that doesn’t know the code. Tell them it doesn’t matter who it is, don’t go.
Child predators almost always know the victim and their parents and many times they know them well. Talk to your child about predators, tell them what is inappropriate behavior between children and adults. Many children get into bad situations because they were taught to obey adults. Make sure your kids know they should never obey an adult if it doesn’t feel right.
After volunteering for Perverted Justice, I realized that I was approached many times by pedophiles as a teenager and I didn’t even know it. One was a teacher at my school. It’s clear as day to me now that I know the behavior of pedophiles. I am saying this because teenagers and children usually don’t see the signs. I am a living testimony of this, I just didn’t see it. This teacher constantly put his arm around me and other girls and frequently commented on our looks. He would sometimes whisper things in our ear. I was too engrossed in my teenage life to pay any attention to this. I can remember it making me uncomfortable but I didn’t think too much about it.
Next time your out in an area with a lot of kids (playgrounds etc) have a look around. Start people watching and see if you can spot the pedophiles. Yes, there are that many out there. I’m not trying to scare you but I want to make sure our children are safe. Always be watchful of the people around your kids.
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