In February, I showcased and saluted Herkimer’s child predator watchdog. One of several such volunteer watchdogs nationwide, he outed a local predator in a lengthy YouTube expose. Herkimer now has one less high school math teacher and one less child sex predator.
An alarming bit of information arose out of that video: the hundreds of apparently local predators who responded to the Watchdog’s online solicitation in which he posed as a teenage boy. Watchdog shared his cellphone’s messaging inbox screens with us: There were hundreds of unique responses in a short period of time.
I wrote to Governor Kathy Hochul, referencing my post and the YouTube video, and asking what state law enforcement is doing? This week I received a reply in the person of a very polite plainclothes state police officer, acting in response to the governor’s office. He assured me that the state police actively hunt down child sex predators, but don’t publicize their successes. Not only would it scare off the predators, but there are also interstate jurisdictional concerns, the possibility of charges of entrapment and apparently operational rules that govern what he implied were joint FBI-state operations.
“There sure seems to be a lot of active child predators within easy driving distance of Herkimer Village.
I repeated the concern that I’d shared with Governor Hochul, that based on Watchdog’s video, there sure seems to be a lot of active child predators within easy driving distance of Herkimer Village. The state police officer tacitly agreed with, supporting my suspicion that Herkimer has long enjoyed a reputation as a child predator safe zone, be it individual predators or wholesale child trafficking.
A sincere thank you to Governor Hochul and the New York State Police for reaching out and responding, and to anyone who viewed Watchdog’s video and wrote the governor.
Also, a renewed thank you to local, state and federal law enforcement, a testament to whose ongoing vigilance can be seen in those surveillance drones patrolling the night skies over South Herkimer Village. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that there’s a coordinated effort to clean up Herkimer, with some of our more prominent gang houses recently emptied, the streets safer to walk and the gray panthers of the Herkimer Post not sprayed with toxins for months now.
The video’s over an hour long and well worth viewing in its entirety. Suspense builds while the watchdog tracks the pred on his cellphone, as the man drives to the Herkimer Walmart. There he’s confronted by the watchdog with the vile text messages he sent to the fictional underaged teen boy. The watchdog masterfully plays the flustered Reid, coaxing admission after admission from him in a confrontation laced with sarcasm, threats and half-truths. He even gets the alleged perp to wait for the arrival of the Herkimer police, who proved very supportive, as did Walmart store management.
The video content is gripping and would do very well on social media, edited into a few smaller riveting clips.
Alleged Herkimer sexual predator exposed by Watchdog–former BOCES substitute math teacher Robert Reid as he reads his text messages on Watchdog’s phone, soliciting sex from a supposed 15-year-old boy. (Screenshot of WEB YouTube video.)
Video Highlights (Time noted in minutes)
7:10 – 24:20 Predator arrives at Herkimer Walmart and is confronted by the watchdog. Much explicit gross language is drawn from the perp’s emails to the fictional boy and read to him. Questions are asked of him. (My wife fled the room.)
24:25 Herkimer Police arrive and begin interviewing the suspect. The investigation expands to his vehicle.
43:11 Watchdog shares on camera page after page of text message solicitations received over just two days in response to his predator decoy ads. This part of the video just blew me away. Herkimer is not a big place. We must rub elbows with these child rapists every day.
Dangerous Work
…people who rape kids are already warped. Exposed, their lives are over–the shock of that could trigger violence.
This is dangerous work. Not everyone who’s exposed will be as docile as former teacher Reid. That one predator doesn’t attack the watchcdog doesn’t mean the next one won’t. Certainly meeting inside Walmart with all its zillion cameras serves as a deterrent. But people who rape kids are already warped. Exposed, their lives are over—the shock of that realization could trigger violence.
Where Are the New York State Police?
“State law enforcement needs to become involved in purging these loathsome predators from our community.
Where are the New York state police? Why aren’t they running child predator sting operations here? No 9ne person, no matter how dedicated and resourceful, can stem the flood of preds Watchdog’s shown us. The Herkimer Police Department is a small rural agency that does a superb job, given its resources. State law enforcement needs to become involved in purging these loathsome predators from our community. Write Governor Kathy Hochul. Send her a link to Watchdog’s video or this post. Unlike the former guy, she’s aware that New York State extends north beyond Westchester County.
Dead Kids Walking–Child Trafficking and Sexual Predators
You can’t have a business without customers. We first exposed Herkimer’s booming child trafficking industry in a series featuring the video Dead Kids Walking. Sadly, just one of many videos. We estimated about $100 million a year as the market value of the kids being trafficked through Herkimer.
That was the wholesale end of the business. Herkimer’s sex predator watchdog’s shown us why a trafficked child is worth an estimated $100,000 a year to his or her handlers–there are a lot of very sick people willing to pay for sex with children. You can see it from the huge number of text messages Watchdog received in just a few days, responding to his decoy ads. (Minute 43:11 in his video.)
Child Predators Are Ambush Predators
It’s heartening, after too many years of battling seemingly alone in Herkimer, to see others besides the gray panthers of the Herkimer Post and law enforcement taking up the fight against the sexual exploitation of children. Look at the numbers–it’s a plague. And it will only be gone if we confront it together. I hope that apathetic days of “‘Well, it’s Herkimer,’ folks say with a shrug,” are ending.
Even now there are real kids, lonely kids, in real rooms, making new friends on the internet, maybe with someone who enjoys connecting with children. Perhaps a veteran educator like Robert Reid? (He’s been teaching for years, according to comments on the video. His students are shocked.) Child predators are ambush predators.
