something similar also happened to my father. he looked at child pornography online after stumbling across it via other websites. he himself was abused (by very *religious* grandparents i would add) as a child and due to this wanted to hassle people that distributed the pictures he had seen. he went into a chatroom and pretended to be someone else and offered to meet up with an FBI agent (who was also pretending to be someone else). he did so, he says, to inconvenience the man because it was a 4 hour drive for the FBI agent and 2 hours for my dad (to the agreed upon location). he stood the guy up (obviously), but a few weeks later, he was arrested for owning illegal pictures of a minor engaged in sexual activity. as with your situation, my father never abused me when i was a child.

i don’t want to alarm you anymore than i’m sure you already are, but my dad did receive 5 years in federal prison. my father was also in his late 50s when he was arrested. i fluctuate between being so angry at him for being that dumb and also angry at the government for wasting taxpayer money to set up these “sting operations” when they can’t even find a real criminal (who is actively abusing children or pets or doing coke, whatever) to save their lives. i wish the best for you and your family.

I actually knew Brian many years ago when he was at TIME magazine (I was just beginning my writing career), and he was the nicest man in the world… sort of brotherly, extremely helpful and had a great personality. If asked, I would describe him as a very good person, and a loyal friend.

Of course, learning of all that has happened is upsetting (to say the least). People can judge, but he is obviously someone who needs help. At the risk of having everyone on this site slam me, I am going to keep him and his family in my thoughts/prayers.

The key aspect here is that there was no victim. In the absence of a victim,
(even a societal victim) there is no crime. Had the police not fraudulently generated
a victim there is no evidence that Doyle would have actually had the opportunity
or disposition to commit this crime.

This is specifically different than a sting operation where the police receive
a tip about a man hiring a hit man, a man actually sending illicit e-mails to
a real 14-year old girl, or someone attempting to fence stolen goods or sell
dangerous contraband. In those cases there is clearly an actual victim or victims.

This case is similar to the famous attempt to entrap John DeLorean. DeLorean
wasn’t trying to sell any contraband. The police set up a sting to induce
DeLorean into buying drugs–drugs that actually didn’t exist. DeLorean
wasn’t looking to buy drugs, but the police used his dire financial situation
to create a crime for him that we would not otherwise have been disposed to seek
out. DeLorean was acquitted of all charges.

As to Doyle’s mental feelings of guilt, I can’t comment. People say
a lot of different things when they’re desperate and their entire
life is on the line. If I was facing a sentecing judge because some prosecutor
had stacked charges against me (based on a fraudulent police tactic) and forced
me into a plea deal, I’d
probably be acting pretty remorseful too. Doyle might even really feel guilty,
as he knew he shouldn’t have been propositioning a 14 year old girl.

Except that he didn’t actually do that, did he?
He propositioned a police officer who posed as a 14-year old girl in an attempt
to lure vulnerable men into doing something that they may have fantasized about,
but might otherwise have never had the opportunity to do. The key word there
is opportunity. It’s not illegal to fantasize about crime. Had the police
not fraudulently created a crime it’s not only possible, but statistically
unlikely, that Doyle would have actually had the opportunity to find a willing
and encouraging victim. There is no evidence that he actually ever chatted
or e-mailed a real underage female. In fact, at one point he gets confused
as to who he’s conversing with because he’s speaking to another
undercover officer posing as a teenager.

One begins to wonder if there are any potential victims at all, or if the teen
chat rooms of America are stocked full of either undercover police officers
or vigilantes like Perverted Justice.

He got caught in a sting operation, plain and simple. Doyle didnt even protest! He knew he was busted. What’s your problem with putting sex offenders behind bars? You want molested children first?

I hate Wikipedia, it makes every ignorant asshat on the internet think they are experts on any given topic because they have the capacity to cut and paste. Thanks for learnin’ me belch. You have done me a great service.

Fraud: An intentional perversion of truth for the
purpose of inducing another in reliance upon it to part with some valuable
thing belonging to him or to surrender a legal right; a false representation
of a matter of fact, whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading
allegations, or by concealment of that which should have been disclosed, which
deceives and is intended to deceive another so that he shall act upon it to
his legal injury. [Brainerd Dispatch Newspaper Co v. Crow Wing County, 196
Minn. 194, 264 N.W. 779, 780.]

Fraud: A false representation of a matter of fact—whether
by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment
of what should have been disclosed—that deceives and is intended to deceive
another so that the individual will act upon it to her or his legal injury.
[West's Encyclopedia of American Law. The Gale Group, Inc, 1998]

The police are not allowed to break the law in order to enforce it.