With its 'To Catch a Predator' sting operations, NBC's 'Dateline' has spawned a Web meme of motivational posters and jokes deriding repulsive sexual deviants. Those undercover sting operations have also inspired a wave of Net vigilantes who personally attempt to ensnare those unwitting, perverted dimwits.
A 69-year-old man in Wales was recently duped by an undercover crusader, and the operative just so happened to be in the next room. Instead of exchanging chat-room messages with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl, David Anthony Roberts was actually propositioning his own wife.
Cheryl Roberts, David's wife of 20 years, had recently grown suspicious of her husband's extensive online activities, particularly those he carried out under the message board alias of "Corky." With that in mind, she created profiles of 14- and 15-year-old girls on the site Bearshare and began engaging in clandestine discussions with her husband. The conversations apparently turned sexual in nature and finally culminated with David propositioning the 14-year-old character.
WalesOnline reports that Cheryl, who has since divorced her husband, called police after the incident. They made an arrest and subsequently found child pornography on the man's computer. David -- who, officials believe, may suffer from a neurological disorder -- plead guilty to eight charges of child pornography and is now a registered sexual offender. He is also being required to attend a sex offender program and is not allowed to contact anyone under the age of 18 on the Web. Chris Hansen would be proud. [From: Wales Online]
