RCMP in British Columbia have arrested one of their own, after a group that lures suspected child sex predators released a video of a man they say was expecting to meet a 14-year-old girl.
Brenda Butterworth-Carr, B.C.’s acting commanding officer, told reporters Friday that a Mountie was arrested Thursday following an investigation into allegations including child luring and sexual exploitation. She said police began their investigation after reports on social media.
“If these allegations are substantiated, we will be taking immediate steps to separate ourselves from this individual,” Butterworth-Carr added.
“There is no room in the RCMP for this kind of behaviour or this individual,” she went on, noting she has launched an internal investigation in addition to the criminal investigation.
Butterworth-Carr said that the officer’s name cannot be released because charges are still pending. However, she said an officer whose name is circulating on social media as the man in the video is not the Mountie in question.
The video shows a man running away after someone identifies himself as a member of “Creep Catchers.” The controversial group lures potential pedophiles by posing as children, films them and releases the videos online. There are more than a dozen chapters across Canada.
Ryan Laforge, who founded the chapter in Surrey, B.C, told CTV Vancouver earlier this year that he had filmed 60 Creep Catcher videos in just three months.
“That’s 60 people that everyone can see, so they know, ‘okay this guy, this girl is not safe around my kids,’” he said.
With a report from CTV’s British Columbia Bureau Chief Melanie Nagy
