By SYDNEY KENT
The story often starts the same —an adult man arrives at a specific location to engage in sexual abuse with who he believes to be an adolescent child.
Instead, he is met by a decoy from the nonprofit Predator Catchers, Indianapolis. The group speaks to the alleged predator while they wait for the police. Upon arrival, officers receive a binder containing incriminating screenshots of conversations required to file charges.
The interaction is then livestreamed on the PCI Facebook page; The subject is often arrested by the end of the video. Some videos garner hundreds of thousands of views from around the world. Many viewers express gratitude.
PCI President, Eric Schmutte, says he decided to stand up and do something to protect children from online predators. This is according to the PCI website where Schmutte also writes, “the justice system needs a wake up call. If they won’t protect the children, groups like us will!”.
The group, and similar “vigilante” organizations, have faced public backlash for their work in recent years. NBC’s once popular show “To Catch a Predator” was cancelled — in part due to subjects that have died by suicide after being confronted by investigators. Despite this, at least 160 groups have formed for the purpose of catching online predators in the last three years, according to an analysis conducted by The Washington Post.
Some police departments in Indiana are willing to accept files and tips from the group, while other departments deny willingness to even receive information. The Wells County Police Department does not appear to share this stance.
PCI has arranged at least six separate sting operations in Wells County since September, with all six cases resulting in arrests and a charge for child solicitation, a Level 4 felony. Only one of the men was from Bluffton. Five of the six men are still awaiting deposition on their cases.
A 35-year-old man from Fort Wayne, Roger Wayne Wiles, was caught by the group in September. During Wiles’ sentencing hearing in the Wells Circuit Court last month, his public defender, Cory Spreen, took issue with the argument that a child could have been hurt as there was no actual victim.
Time will tell if this defense is echoed across similar cases. Due to Wiles’ criminal history, the state pointed out that a child had already been victimized by his actions. Wiles was convicted of child molesting, a Level 1 felony, in 2013. He has also collected several convictions for failing to register as a violent or sexual offender since that time.
Ultimately, Wiles was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the crime and an additional 14 years under a habitual offender charge.
Austin Travis Wayne Phillips, a 42-year-old man from Bluffton, was caught by the group in March in Grant County. While out on bond for the case, Phillips was again caught by PCI at Walmart in Bluffton.
The same weekend, the group arranged for Jeremy Ryan Back, a 42-year-old man from Sunman, to meet with Schmutte at another Bluffton location. Both interactions resulted in arrests. Both men have a pretrial conference scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sept. 6 in the Wells Circuit Court.
Jonathon Dickey, a 53-year-old man from Poneto, was arrested shortly after for the same crime at a Level 5 felony, which carries less time than a Level 4 felony. Dickey has a pretrial conference scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sept. 27.
The most recent man arrested also traveled the furthest distance. Patrick Langland, a 52-year-old man from Michigan, traveled two and a half hours to meet with who he believed to be a 13-year-old girl at Pizza Hut in Bluffton. Langland is currently still incarcerated at the Wells County Jail. A pretrial conference is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Oct. 18 in the Wells Circuit Court for Langland’s case.
The News-Banner has reached out to the PCI group for comment and will continue to write about PCI cases as they are processed in the Wells Circuit Court.
sydney@news-banner.com
