Douglas County, MO. – A man in southwest Missouri was recently lured in by an online group of civilians working to expose child predators. 61-year-old Timothy D. Brill was charged with first-degree statutory rape or attempted statutory rape of a person less than 12 years of age, enticement or attempted enticement of a child, possession of child pornography, tampering with physical evidence in felony prosecution, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of illegal weapon, and furnishing pornographic material to a minor.
In the original article about him, Brill was arrested after a private citizen alerted authorities to his activities online. This citizen provided evidence and screenshots between Brill and a fictitious 11-year-old girl. Brill had made plans to meet this girl for sex.
After this arrest took place Douglas County Sheriff Chriss Degase talked to OzarkFirst and warned individuals about the possible dangers of being a part of online groups like these but also thanked them for their work. Sheriff Degase stated that Douglas County worked a few cases with online groups where people pose as children to try and chat with and catch these child predators. He asks the individuals involved not to go too overboard with their investigations and to always get law enforcement involved early on.
Degase goes on to say that citizens need proper training to make sure the case will hold up in court. Whether it is a private citizen or an undercover officer, there are guidelines that have to be followed. Under Missouri law, these cases can only be prosecuted if the victim is either an actual child or a law enforcement officer posing as a child. The predators have to know the age of the “victim” and the individual when trying to catch them can’t offer a sexual favor right off the bat. The predator must initiate that conversation.
There are two currently active cases where information from private citizens pretending to be minors was turned over to the police in Webster County.
