Youtuber group sets up sexual predator case in Athens; calls police to see the evidence

Athens-Clarke police received a telephone call recently to respond to an unusual situation they had not encountered previously.

An Oconee County man with a YouTube channel had set up a scheme to snare whom he considered a sexual predator preying on a juvenile boy. The sting was about to go down. It would be caught on camera and the man called for police.

But the police report shows the officer didn’t want to show up. At least not while the sting was unfolding.

The situation unraveled Sept. 15 outside the Walmart on Lexington Road, according to the police report released on Sept. 24.

When an officer arrived, she met with the YouTuber James A. Spence, a 43-year-old contractor who had spent 20 years in law enforcement. Also at the scene was the suspect, a 44-year-old man living in Athens.

Spence explained to a police officer how he had documented social media conversations with the suspect.

“I had him believing I was a 13-year-old boy,” Spence explained when contacted by the Banner-Herald. The male decoy used in the trap was a 19-year-old friend of one of Spence’s daughters.

Police noted that Spence had multiple texts with explicit conversations recorded on their phones, along with some photos of the suspect.

The suspect allowed the officer to search his vehicle and nothing was found to link him to the sexual conversations. Instead, the man told the officer he was “concerned for the 13-year-old he was supposed to meet and that he wanted to provide church services or help.”

The officer did not arrest the man based on what she learned at the scene.

Spence told police and the Banner-Herald that the sting was videotaped for a YouTube channel. He said Wednesday he plans to post it whether police charge the man or not.

The sting, he explained, was modeled after other YouTube channels that also set up situations to catch alleged sexual predators. A similar NBC Dateline reality series that aired about 20 years ago involved sexual predator stings set up by reporter Chris Hansen. That show resulted in the arrests of numerous suspects.

Oconee Blotter: Food delivery man pitches fit over, curses over food order at Five Guys

Spence has a daughter whom he says travels to Texas and acts as decoy to catch predators for a YouTube channel in that state.

“In talking to her, watching the videos and with my background, I thought it was interesting,” he said about why he is creating his own channel.

What happened Sept. 15 was their first investigation, said Spence, who was accompanied that day by the teenager decoy and a 25-year-old Athens man.

“We’ve got a couple of more on the deck we’re looking into,” he said.

Spence noted that police just released the incident report so he is giving them time to do something or not do something before the video is shown.

He acknowledged that although these groups that catch sexual predators are popular on YouTube channels, that often law enforcement doesn’t like dealing with them.

“They are worried about things like entrapment, but entrapment doesn’t apply to a civilian. That’s for government agents,” he said.

And a lot of patrol officers are not versed in these matters, he said.

“In my opinion, I think we had plenty to charge him or otherwise I wouldn’t have gone ahead with the sting when I did,” he said.

Spence explained he called police before he met with the suspect and explained to an officer what they had.

“She gave me the usual spill that we won’t come out – it’s entrapment. But I told her respectfully, it’s not, and I’m giving you the opportunity to come out and see what we’ve got because we are calling you afterward to file a police report and turn over what we’ve got,” Spence said.

Later the officer’s sergeant called and again they discussed the matter and the sergeant told Spence to call after the sting happened and an officer would respond.

Police Lt. Jody Thompson said that the matter has been turned over to the criminal investigations division, but currently they would not comment.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Police examine team's effort to catch sex predator in Athens