Two seventeen year old girls and an eighteen year old girl worked together to conduct their own amateur online sting after they learned that 32 year old Robert Dreyfus was contacting underage girls online for sex.
“This was really dangerous and something that’s best left to professionals in law enforcement,” criminal defense attorney, Jan Ronis said. “Normally, law enforcement runs these operations. The solicitation is recorded. The conversations and meeting places are surveilled. This is a bunch of kids.”
In a day and age when sin is running rampant, it's hard to come against these teens, and other amateur investigators, especially as harshly as the Washington Post did. While I am not saying it is a wise idea for teens to conduct such stings without proper training, it's hard to not commend them for doing something as boots on the ground, willing to fight instead of just hide.
After they heard that Dreyfus was said to have been contacting underage girls for sex, they initiated contact with him, whom authorities believe the girls had not known before this, through a popular online application. After exchanging messages, a meet-up was arranged at a local Starbucks. Their intention was to gain enough information so that they could turn it over to authorities to secure his prosecution.
Everything seems to have gone fairly smoothly until the meeting.
At that point, Dreyfus was able to talk one of the seventeen year old girls to enter his vehicle, "to talk." Once she was in the vehicle, he immediately drove away.
The girl was able to get a text to her friends who then called 911. Police are then said to have contacted Dreyfus on his cell phone where they convinced him to pull over. The girl was able to flee the vehicle and police were quick to respond and take Dreyfus into custody.
Dreyfus was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, sending harmful matter to a minor and communication with a minor for specific offences. He was initially being held on $175,000 bond, but it appears as though he has been released from custody.
Information about future court dates could not be found.