Cassidy Oliver, Vancouver Sun
He was open from the beginning, which made it easy. Within days, the decoy working with Ryan LaForge, the president of the Surrey chapter of Creep Catchers, knew she had landed a potentially explosive catch. Posing as a 15-year-old girl, the decoy worked the man for details, soon learning through back-and-forth emails about his work. Eventually, he allegedly sent a picture of himself in uniform. He referred to himself as Officer Dan.
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“He was open to tell us right away, which kind of threw us off,” LaForge alleged during an interview with Postmedia. “He informed us (that he was a police officer) and we just went with it.”
(Ryan LaForge, the president of the Surrey Chapter of Creep Catchers, says “Officer Dan” sent these photos to a Creep Catchers decoy who was posing as a 15-year-old girl,
On Friday, Surrey Mounties announced the arrest of a member of the force in connection with a sting orchestrated earlier this week by LaForge and his team of Creep Catchers that was broadcast live on the group’s Facebook page.
While few details were offered about the officer, who remained in custody Friday pending potential charges, or the events leading to his arrest, LaForge’s account offers some insight into how the officer became ensnared.
None of the allegations have been proven in court and no charges have been laid against the Mountie, who has not officially been identified.
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It began last week with an ad in Craigslist, posted under the “Strictly Platonic” heading.
Soon, the decoy, a woman who is, in reality, in her 30s, was exchanging emails with a man who made it clear that he wanted a “sexual relationship” with “no strings attached”, alleged LaForge, who was unable to recall exact details of the what the Craigslist ad said.
In total, LaForge said about 190 emails were exchanged.
She disclosed her age within the first few.
The man allegedly sent photos too. One was of him in a towel.
“She baited him. She baited him long and hard for a week, and every day he got more open,” said LaForge.
While unable to provide details of the emails, LaForge provided one example of an alleged exchange. When the decoy described her fictional bedroom to the man, he responded by saying he wanted to carry her to her bed and lay her down, alleged LaForge.
“He would ask if she could ‘host’,” said LaForge. “Asking a 15-year-old if he could come to her house? That just shows you where his head is at.”
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RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brenda Butterworth-Carr said Friday that the Mountie was arrested Thursday night, approximately 24 hours after the Creep Catchers live broadcast from a location near Central City in Surrey.
LaForge said he felt good that he was able to get “one creep” off the street.
“I don’t think he’s going to be our biggest,” he said. “I think we will get a judge. I think we will get a politician. I think there is a creep in every profession.”
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