Academic

The Baltimore sting and Dateline's "To Catch a Predator"

By Tung Yin

I had previously noted that maybe the FBI needed to have a Facebook page, given that the Baltimore sting suspect himself started by mouthing off on Facebook.  Then I discovered that the FBI does indeed have a Facebook page. . . .

But after reading more stories about the Baltimore sting, I see that the target was indeed aware of the Portland sting.  As the L.A. Times reports:

After the FBI sting in Portland hit the headlines, Martinez worried that he too was being set up. "I'm not falling for no b.s," the FBI said Martinez told the federal agent.

This reminds me of Dateline's "To Catch a Predator," in which sting operations are conducted to snare would-be sex predators by tricking them into thinking that they are having lewd conversations with underaged girls, eventually leading to the targets' driving to a home where they think they will get to have sexual relations, only to be confronted by a TV camera and host Chris Hansen.  In at least one episode, the target has admitted that he's watched the show!  

Full post as published by The Yin Blog on December 09, 2010 (boomark / email).