Philadelphia-area authorities are investigating a TV station’s choice of a neighborhood near an elementary school to use for an Internet sting to lure pedophiles with the prospect of sex with 14-year-old girls and boys.
Township Police Chief Lee Hunter called the WCAU-TV news investigation “highly dangerous, totally unethical and immoral.”
At least three men – including one from Maryland – went to the vacant house that WCAU had rented, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report. Although WCAU has left the house, residents fear more pedophiles who have seen the address on the Internet will appear, so police are making extra patrols of the area.
WCAU officials denied any wrongdoing, but Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green and Hunter said the NBC station had acted irresponsibly and potentially disastrously in preparing “Perverted Justice,” scheduled to air on the final night of the current TV “sweeps” rating period.
Green is investigating whether any criminal charges are applicable.
Link: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/8099872.htm